Will Hoogakker started playing the flute and piano at age 15, after which he gradually became an autodidact composer. During the entrance examination for flute at the conservatory in The Hague Frans Vester advised him to study composition as well as music. Vester brought him into contact with Louis Andriessen, whose pupil, Huub de Vriend, gave him his first lessons in music theory and composition. After meeting Ton de Leeuw, who advised him to study composition at the conservatoire, Will started studying composition for a number of years: until his retirement with Robert Heppener in Amsterdam, then a year with Klaas de Vries in Rotterdam and Henri Delnooz in Maastricht and finally in free form with Daan Manneke. In this period some of his compositions were published as well.
Characteristic for his music is independence in composing and a self-willed, intuitive ‘individuality’, combined with a strong sense of structure, which is different in each composition.