Anthony Hedges (5 March 1931 – 19 June 2019) was one of that rare breed of composer that is as much at home in the world of ‘light’ music as in that of ‘serious’. He can spin a delightful tune one day, and the next be immersed in a work as gritty (the composer’s description) as the Piano Sonata.

Born in Oxfordshire, he distinguished himself as a music student at Keble College, Oxford; following a sojourn in Glasgow, he joined the staff of Hull University, becoming senior lecturer in music and remaining for more that three decades until his retirement in 1995.

In 1990 he was honoured by Hull, whose Central Library established an archive containing all his compositions and working sketches, and in 1997 by the University with an honorary D.Mus.

Academic duties never inhibited his abundant flow of works in many fields, encouraged by numerous commissions, sometimes for works on a grand scale, such as A Manchester Mass (1974) for chorus, orchestra and brass band.

He became a great friend of Anthony Goldstone, who commissioned two works for cello and piano in the 1980s; Hedges’ final work was The Elegy for Tony, written after Goldstone’s passing in 2017 – a very beautiful and poignant work.

Tony Hedges died suddenly on June 19, 2019 and will be sadly missed.

Hear his “Three Explorations”, Op. 145, Piano Sonata, Op. 53, and Five Aphorisms, Op. 113 on Explorations: