Instrumentation: pf, string orch
Åse Hedstrøm (born 1950) is a Norwegian contemporary composer. She 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.
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.