Åse Hedstrøm is a Norwegian contemporary composer.
Life and career
Åse Hedstrøm studied music at the Institute of Sonology in Utrecht, and composition at the Norwegian StateAcademy of Music. She continued her studies in Stockholm with composer Sven-David Sandström. After completing her studies, Hedstrøm received a three-year working grant from the state in 1987, and began composing full-time. She received the Norwegian Society of Composers' Work of the Year award for the chamber music work Right After in 1985 and for the string quartetSorti in 1989. Key elements in Hedstrøm’s production include orchestral works Anima, Nenia and Cantos. Anima received a nomination for a Nordic Council Music Prize in 1986, and Nenia has seen a number of radio performances globally as a result of having been recommended through UNESCO’s International Rostrum of Composers in Paris in 1988. Hedstrøm has received a number of commissions from domestic and international orchestral institutions and festivals including Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, NRK, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces, Music Factory, Harpans kraft, Stockholm New Music, Musik-Biennale Berlin, BBC, Mirkk Art Forum and Ensemble recherche. Parallel to her compositional career, Hedstrøm has also been active as an organizer and coordinator on the Norwegian music scene, beginning in 1978 when she was appointed as director for NyMusikk. I the time-frame 1983 to 1987, Hedstrøm was the music co-ordinator for Henie Onstad Kunstsenter which resulted in a number of contemporary music concerts and festivals at the art centre. From 1994 to 1998, Hedstrøm served as director and artistic leader for the Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival. From 1999 to 2002, Hedstrøm was the director of the Stockholm Concert Hall and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. She has served as a member of a number of boards and advisory committees, including a stint as chairwoman of the board for MIC Music Information Centre Norway, chair of collecting society TONO’s board 2009-2011 and from 2012 to 2016 chair of the board for the Norwegian Society of Composers. Hedstrøm is a member of Sweden’s Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien.
Production
Selected works
Faser for orchestra
Through for mezzo-soprano, trombone, percussion and tape
Elisabeth Klein, Mysterious Mountains, Norwegian Piano Music, Works by Bakke, Fongaard, Strømholm, Hedstrøm, Haug, Slettholm, Mortensen, Maj Sønstevold. Featured work: Chain.
Cikada, Plays: Wallin, Hedstrøm, Ore, Persen. Featured work: Sorti.
Hans-Kristian Kjos Sørensen, Open percussion, Works by Xenakis, Cage, Hedstrøm, Donatoni, Wallin, Kjos Sørensen. Featured work: Flow.
Bjørn Ianke - The Contemporary Solo Double Bass, vol. 3, Works by Nordheim, Hedstrøm, Xenakis, Hellstenius. Featured work: Touche.
Åse Hedstrøm Flow, Oslo Sinfonietta / Christian Eggen, dirigent/Håkon Austbø, piano/Tomas Nilsson, marimba - Featured work: Saisir for sinfonietta, Chain for piano, Flores for piano and string orchestra, Voci for sinfonietta, Flow for marimba, Bewegt for sinfonietta
