DARON HAGEN
Daron Hagen (b. 1961) holds a unique position in American music as both an internationally acclaimed concert music and opera composer, and as a pioneering auteur composer-director-writer-editor of operafilm. His internationally laureled Bardo Trilogy films are viewable worldwide on major streamers, including Amazon Prime Video, and are further documented in his forthcoming book, Exploring Operafilm: Making the Bardo Trilogy, to be published by McFarland & Company in April 2026.
Over five decades, prestigious ensembles such as the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, and Seattle Opera have commissioned his prolific work. His output includes 5 symphonies, 12 concerti, 13 operas, over 75 orchestral, chamber, choral, and band works, and 250 songs. He has collaborated with distinguished artists including Leonard Bernstein, JoAnn Falletta, Lukas Foss, Gary Graffman, Kate Lindsey, David Alan Miller, Paul Muldoon, Marni Nixon, Sidney Outlaw, Gerard Schwarz, Paul Sperry, and Gore Vidal. Hagen's memoir, Duet with the Past, was published in 2019.
Founding Artistic Director of the New Mercury Collective, Hagen has held leadership roles as Artistic Director and Chair of Faculty for the Seasons Festival (2005-13), and President of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation (2003-2008). His expertise has led to adjudicating for the NEA, ASCAP, NATS, and Opera America. A Lifetime Member of the Corporation of Yaddo and Guggenheim Fellow, he is the recipient of two Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellowships, the Bogliasco and Camargo Fellowships, the Bearns, Barlow, ASCAP-Nissim, and Kennedy Center Friedheim Prizes, and two awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has taught at institutions including Bard, Curtis, the Chicago College of Performing Arts, and the Princeton Atelier.
Published by Peermusic Classical and represented by Encompass Arts, Hagen studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Curtis, and Juilliard. He lives with his wife and children in Upstate New York.