Born in Paris, Benoît Willmann completed his musical studies at the Conservatoire national de région de Paris in 1984 with a First Prize of excellence. First Prize for clarinet at the National Conservatory of Lyon in 1989, he was hired the same year by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande for a soloist position.

Invited by numerous festivals, he has premiered several works for both Radio France and Radio Suisse Romande. He is a member of various chamber music groups including the Trio Arundo and the Wind Octet of the OSR. He frequently collaborates with the contemporary music Ensemble Contrechamps.

Since 1998, Benoît Willmann has been studying orchestral conducting in parallel with his instrumentalist activities. In 2000, he was entrusted with the artistic direction of the Ensemble la Sinfonietta.