Björn Wilker was born in Gelsenkirchen-Buer, Germany, in 1968.
He studied percussion at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin and at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg im Breisgau. The teachers instrumental in his development as a musician were Bernhard Wulff, Isao Nakamura and Robyn Schulkowsky.
After extensively performing as a free-lance percussionist in new music, he became a member of Klangforum Wien in 1993. From 1998 to 2000 he took a period of leave in order to study composition with Helmut Lachenmann at the Stuttgart College of Music.
Today, in addition to Klangforum Wien, he is active as a soloist and as a composer.