William Hagen

violin

The riveting American violinist William Hagen is a seasoned international performer who’s appeared as a soloist with many of the world’s great orchestras, including the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Chicago, Frankfurt Radio, and San Francisco symphony orchestras, among many others. He’s been hailed as a “brilliant virtuoso” and “a standout” by The Dallas Morning News, while the Chicago Classical Review has praised his “glowing tone,” “virtuosic pyrotechnics,” and “poise and maturity” as a player. In 2015, Hagan won third prize in the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, making him one of the most successful Americans in that prestigious competition’s history.

Highlights of Hagen’s recent engagements include recitals at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and Colburn School as well as performances with the Sacramento and Savannah philharmonic orchestras, the North Carolina and Omaha symphony orchestras, and Symphoria in Syracuse, New York. Previous seasons featured recitals in Paris and Brussels and at the Ravinia Festival in Illinois as well as performances with the Brussels Chamber Orchestra in Beijing; the Jupiter Chamber Players in New York City; and the Fort Worth, Oregon, Pasadena, Seattle, and Utah symphony orchestras. He’s also appeared with cellist Steven Isserlis at London’s Wigmore Hall; violinist Tabea Zimmermann at the Beethovenhaus in Bonn; and Isserlis and violinists Gidon Kremer and Christian Tetzlaff at the Chamber Music Connects the World festival in Kronberg, Germany. Conductors he’s collaborated with include Marin Alsop, Christian Arming, Peter Bay, Pablo Rus Broseta, Christoph Eschenbach, Andrew Gourlay, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Carlos Kalmar, Nicholas McGegan, Brett Mitchell, Ludovic Morlot, Matthias Pintscher, Alexander Prior, Michel Tabachnik, and Hugh Wolff.

A native of Salt Lake City, Hagen made his debut with the Utah Symphony at age nine. He began studying locally at age four with Natalie Reed, followed by lessons with Deborah Moench. From ages 10 to 17, he studied at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. After studying with Itzhak Perlman at The Juilliard School in New York City for two years, he returned to Los Angeles to continue studying with his previous teacher, Robert Lipsett, at the Colburn Conservatory. Hagen is also an alumnus of the Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland, The Perlman Music Program, the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Kronberg Academy in Germany.

William Hagen performs on the 1732 “Arkwright Lady Rebecca Sylvan” Stradivarius, on generous loan from the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation.