Hege was born in Colorado and raised in Idaho to parents Carl and Anne, who he names as his role models. He attended the First Mennonite Church in Aberdeen, Idaho. He began piano lessons at the age of nine and realized at that age that music would be his ruling passion.
He has majors in history and music at Bethel College, graduating in 1987. His senior seminar paper was about how the composer Dmitri Shostakovich worked under the repressive Stalin regime in Russia in the mid-20th century. He went on to obtain a master's degree from the University of Utah in orchestral conducting, where he founded the University Chamber Orchestra.
He studied at the University of Southern California with Daniel Lewis and at the Aspen Music Festival with Paul Vermel.
In 2004 Mr. Hege received an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from Le Moyne College.
He is active as a guest clinician and adjudicates various musical competitions nationally.
He has three daughters and one son, and lives in Cleveland, OH.
Music Director of the Haddonfield Symphony, New Jersey (1997 - 2000) (Now known as Symphony in C)
Music Director of the Encore Chamber Orchestra in Chicago (1993 - 1997)
Music Director of the Chicago Youth Symphony (1993 - 1997) (was honored twice by the American Symphony Orchestra League for innovative programming while in this position)
Texas Music Festival, 2014, Nielsen: Symphony No. 4, Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem, Bartok: Miraculous Mandarin Suite, Blu-ray Disc Release.
SSO Big Band Bash, 2006.
Serenity Cedille, 2006, Label: Cedille
SSO Holiday Pops, 2002.
SSO Classics Concert, 2000.
Violin Concertos by Black Composers of the 18th & 19th Centuries, 1999, Label: Cedille , with violinist Rachel Barton Pine and the Encore Chamber Orchestra (which was nominated for a 1998 NPR Heritage Award).
Done Made My Vow, works of Adolphus Hailstork performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Morgan State Choir.
The Gift, Label: Woodland Records, with oboist Brad Smith.