He was recipient of a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award in 2012 and is currently a Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music, where his notable students have included William Marsey and Robin Haigh.
[2] Finnis went on to study composition with teachers including Julian Anderson, Paul Newland and Rozalie Hirs.
[4] Finnis worked with friend Orlando Higginbottom as part of the latter's dance-pop music act, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs,[7] contributing as co-writer to an album, Trouble released in 2012.
[9] They commissioned and premiered several of Finnis' works, including Across White Air for solo cello with reverb, Between Rain for string orchestra, and the electronic piece Colour Field Painting.
[2] Finnis also has a significant association with elderly new music ensemble the London Sinfonietta who have performed, toured and recorded six of his works, including three that they commissioned: Veneer, Unfolds and Seeing is Flux.