Åse Hedstrøm

Åse Hedstrøm (born 17 April 1950 in Moss) is a Norwegian contemporary composer.

Life and career

Åse Hedstrøm studied music at the Institute of Sonology in Utrecht, and composition at the Norwegian State Academy 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 quartet ''Sorti'' in 1989.

Key elements in Hedstrøm’s production include orchestral works ''Anima'' (1983), ''Nenia'' (1986) and ''Cantos'' (1993). ''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 (the Norwegian section of ISDM). 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 (1979/80)
* ''Through'' for mezzo-soprano, trombone, percussion and tape (1983)
* ''Chain'' for piano solo (1983)
* ''Anima'' for orchestra (1983/84)
* ''Right after'' for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano (1984/85)
* ''Nenia'' for orchestra (1985/86)
* ''Grata'' for flute, violin, viola, cello, harp and piano (1986)
* ''Sorti'' for string quartet (1987)
* ''Saisir'' for chamber orchestra (1987/88)
* ''Signs'' and pictures for piano solo (1989)
* ''Sug'' for percussion quartet and symphonic wind orchestra (1989/90)
* ''Flow'' for marimba solo (1990)
* ''Bewegt'' for sinfonietta (1990)
* ''Voci'' for sinfonietta (1991)
* ''Flores'' for piano and string orchestra (1992)
* ''Cantos'' for orchestra (1993)
* ''…e quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle'' for orchestra (1994)
* ''Touche'' for double bass solo (1996)
* ''Favola'' for orchestra (1997)
* ''Terra'' for sinfonietta (1998)
* ''In memoriam'' for recorder solo (2004)
* ''Vsprs'' for violin, viola and cello (2007)
* ''In Solitude', for Company'' for violin solo (2008)
* ''Runner’s Blues'' for symphonic wind ensemble (2012)
* ''Imprint'' for viola bastarda (2016)

Discography

* Elisabeth Klein, Mysterious Mountains, ''Norwegian Piano Music, Works by Bakke, Fongaard, Strømholm, Hedstrøm, Haug, Slettholm, Mortensen, Maj Sønstevold''. Featured work: Chain (1983).
* Cikada, ''Plays: Wallin, Hedstrøm, Ore, Persen''. Featured work: Sorti (1987).
* Oslo Sinfonietta, Christian Eggen, ''Plays: Berge, Thommessen, Wallin, Hedstrøm, Nordheim''. Featured work: Saisir (1988)
* Hans-Kristian Kjos Sørensen, ''Open percussion , Works by Xenakis, Cage, Hedstrøm, Donatoni, Wallin, Kjos Sørensen''. Featured work: Flow (1990).
* Bjørn Ianke - ''The Contemporary Solo Double Bass, vol. 3, Works by Nordheim, Hedstrøm, Xenakis, Hellstenius''. Featured work: Touche (1996).
* Åse Hedstrøm ''Flow'', Oslo Sinfonietta / Christian Eggen, dirigent/Håkon Austbø, piano/Tomas Nilsson, marimba - Featured work: Saisir (1988) for sinfonietta, Chain (1983) for piano, Flores (1992) for piano and string orchestra, Voci (1991) for sinfonietta, Flow (1990) for marimba, Bewegt (1990) for sinfonietta (1998)
* BIT20 Ensemble, ''Nordic music for Chamber Orchestra'', Works by Sørensen, Hauksson, Hedstrøm, Mossenmark, Heininen, Tanaka. Featured work: Terra (1998).

References

External links

List of works
supplied by the National Library of Norway

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hedstrom, Ase
1950 births
20th-century classical composers
21st-century classical composers
Women classical composers
Living people
Norwegian classical composers
20th-century women composers
21st-century women composers