Born in Bicester in 1931, Anthony Hedges studied music at Keble College, Oxford,...(+)
Born in Bicester in 1931,
Anthony Hedges studied
music at Keble College,
Oxford, and left
university with a first
class honours degree and
a post-graduate degree in
composition. Following
National Service as solo
pianist and arranger with
the Royal Signals Band,
he spent the next five
years as a lecturer at
the Royal Scottish
Academy of music. During
that time he was a
regular contributor on
music to many national
newspapers and journals.
In 1962 he moved to Hull
University where, he
became, until his
retirement in 1995,
Reader in Composition. In
1972 he was elected
Chairman of The
Composers' Guild of Great
Britain, served as
joint-Chairman in 1973
and was subsequently
elected to the Guild's
Council. He has been a
member of the music
panels of Yorkshire Arts
and Lincolnshire and
Humberside Arts, the
Music Board of C.N.N.A.,
and a Council member of
the S.P.N.M. A Council
member of Westminster
Central Music Library for
15 years, he instituted
its publishing scheme for
contemporary British
scores. As a pianist he
has given regular solo
recitals, and as an
accompanist has worked
with many leading
performers. In the late
1970s he founded the
Humberside Sinfonia with
whom he gave numerous
successful concerts as
well as recording a
highly-praised LP of his
music. Anthony Hedges is
equally successful in
many types of music. His
serious music has
received wide critical
acclaim; his light music
enjoys numerous
broadcasts, recordings
and public performances.
He has also written much
music for children and
amateurs as well as
having composed for film,
stage, ballet and
television. His works
have been performed by
many major British
orchestras and heard
worldwide in many
hundreds of broadcast and
public performances. In
1991 he was the featured
composer in the Riga
Festival of British Music
and Film and was
subsequently invited back
to Latvia to conduct
further performances of
his works. A prolific
composer, much of his
output has resulted from
commissions - over 60 to
date*. In 1990 Hull
Central Library
established an Archive
collection of all his
compositions and working
sketches. A CD of his
light orchestral music
was issued in 1997
(Naxos/Marco Polo) and
many CD recordings have
followed on various
labels. In the same year
he was awarded an
honorary D.Mus. by the
University of Hull
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