Anthony Hedges was born in Bicester, England in 1931. He studied music at Keble College. Oxford, gaining first class honours degree and a post-graduate degree in composition. Following National Service he became a lecturer at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and a regular contributor on music to many national newspapers and journals.
"Would that more new music were craftsmanlike in such an obvious yet unassuming way." - The Guardian
In 1962 he moved to Hull University where he was Reader in Composition until his retirement in 1995. He also served in a senior capacity on the boards of the The Composers' Guild of Great Britain, Yorkshire Arts and the SPNM.
"... his resolute and distinctive tone of voice and his natural feeling for clear texture and sturdy line." - Sunday Times
As a pianist he has given many solo recitals, and worked with many leading performers as an accompanist. In the late 1970s he founded the Humberside Sinfonia which he conducted in numerous concerts and several acclaimed recordings of his own works.
"Since 1962 at any rate, Hedges's style has been identifiable, the workmanship thorough, the personality a whole." - Musical Times
Anthony Hedges' serious music has received wide critical acclaim; his light music also been widely performed and broadcast. He has also written for children and amateurs and composed for film, stage, ballet and television. In 1991 he was the featured composer in the Riga Festival of British Music and Film and was subsequntly invited to conduct elsewhere in Latvia.
"In this age, with its mania for categorisation, Hedges will amusedly concede the critic's obsession with music as 'light', 'serious'. Or 'middle of the road'. He has, he cheerfully admits, written in all three styles, besides that other category horribly known as 'educational music'. What is harder for at least some people to forgive is that he succeeds in all these departments." - Yorkshire Post
Much of his output has resulted from commissions - some 60 to date. In 1990 Hull Central Library established an Archive of his compositions and manuscripts. In 1997 a cd of his light orchestral music was issued (Naxos/Marco Polo) and in the same year he was awarded an honorary D.Mus. by the University of Hull. He lives with his wife Joy in the picturesque town of Beverley in Yorkshire.
