The Royal Norwegian Air Force Band was established in 2006, yet it will celebrate its bicentenary in 2018. Founded in 1818 as the Band of the Trondhjem Brigade, and later called the Band of the Fifth Division and the Band of the Armed Forces Trøndelag, it was for over one hundred years Trondheim’s only professional ensemble.
After the transition to the Air Force, the band has expanded its arena of activity from Central Norway to the entire country. At its main venue, Byscenen in Trondheim’s city centre, the band has performed with Elise Båtnes, Hilde Louise Asbjørnsen, Randi Stene, Tora Augestad, Australian jazz trumpetist James Morrison, and the jazz-rock band, PELbO. Other projects have included the children’s theatre performance Musika Mobile, together with the free theatre group, Cirka Teater, and the stand up concert Lufta er for alle (The Air Is For Everyone), in collaboration with Åsleik Engmark. The band performs under the motto "No genre unfamiliar to us".
The Royal Norwegian Air Force Band collaborates closely with the Royal Norwegian Air Force Academy and Ørland Main Air Station, and it gives regular guest performances at air force bases and centres around the country.

Leif Arne Pedersen, born 1964 in Porsgrunn, is principal clarinet of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he has held since 1990. Pedersen studied with Knut Henriksen, Bendt Neuchs Sørensen in Copenhagen, and Larry Combs in Chicago. In 1987, after having performed for two years with the Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces, he was hired as co-principal clarinet of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He joined the OPO as co-principal clarinet in 1988. In 1996 Pedersen and the Oslo Philharmonic premiered Rolf Wallin’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, for which the composer received the Nordic Council Music Prize.
Pedersen’s orchestral solos often receive special at­tention in the Norwegian and foreign press. He has on numerous occasions performed as soloist with Norway’s principal symphony orchestras, and by vir­tue of his position with the OPO he has collaborated with a number of the world’s leading soloists and conductors. Pedersen is active as soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. He has made guest appear­ances as chamber musician and teacher at festivals in Europe, South America, and Asia. From 2003 to 2008 he was Music Director of the Royal Norwegian Navy Band, and today he holds the same position with the Royal Norwegian Air Force Band. He is pro­fessor at the Norwegian Academy of Music, teaching clarinet and chamber music. Pedersen has several previous releases on the LAWO Classics label, both as clarinettist and conductor.