Norwegian Academy of Music

The Norwegian Academy of Music (NMH) was created as the national institution of higher musical education in 1973, and it remains the principal institution in Norway offering musicians courses at BA, MA and PhD level. It took up the work of the private Oslo Conservatory of Music (cf. Oslo Conservatory of Music), managed by three generations of the Lindeman family (Ludvig Mathias, Peter and Trygve) from 1833. In 1996, it also took over the Østland Conservatory of Music. Arne Nordheim was a student of the Lindenman’s conservatory in the years 1948–1952, and in 1981 he received the Lindeman Award (funded by the Lindemans' bequest; in the years 1978–1993, it was shared between a composer, a performer and a teacher). In 1983, in connection with the NMH's tenth anniversary and the centenary of the founding of the Conservatory of Music, the Academy commisioned a work from Nordheim and organised the world premiere of Wirklisher Wald for soprano, cello, mixed choir and orchestra.

On 18 August 2006, Arne Nordheim received an honorary doctorate of the Academy. In 2011, the Norwegian Academy of Music set up the Arne Nordheim Centre for new and experimental music. The Centre’s aim is to preserve the composer's musical heritage and his pioneering spirit and to continue the revival which he represented in his creative work.

The Arne Nordheim Centre will develop the composer's work on experimental music and continue research based on the material left by the composer.