Gladys Nordenstrom was born in Mora, Minnesota. She studied music at the Institute of Fine Arts at Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she received bachelor's and master's degrees. She studied under Austrian composer Ernst Krenek there and married him in 1950.[1] After completing her studies, Nordenstrom worked as an elementary school teacher until she moved with Krenek to California.
In the following years, she accompanied Krenek to visiting professorships in various locations and sometimes collaborated on musical works.[2]
After Krenek died in 1991, Nordenstrom was instrumental in founding the Ernst Krenek Institute in 1998 and the private foundation Krems die Ernst Krenek in 2004 in Vienna, Austria.[3] She expended much effort to find ways to promote performances and recordings of Krenek's music.[4]
In 2006, Nordenstrom received the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria.[5][6]
Nordenstrom died on July 5, 2016, in Palm Springs, California, aged 92. At the time of her death, she was at work on a project to record the complete Krenek piano concertos.[7][4]
