Daron Hagen
Daron Hagen, born in 1961, is an American composer, writer, and filmmaker. He has received commissions from the Seattle Opera: Amelia (2010); the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, Kings Singers, and the Curtis Institute of Music among numerous others. After composing eleven staged operas (four in collaboration with poet Paul Muldoon), Hagen has turned to a new genre: operafilm-his first two, Orson Rehearsed (2021) and 9/10: Love Before the Fall (2022), are self-directed and edited auteur projects based on his own libretti/shooting scripts. Hagen is an avid collaborator, having composed concertos for Gary Graffman, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, and Jeffrey Khaner, operatic roles for Kate Lindsey, Nathan Gunn, and Robert Orth; collaborated with directors Stephen Wadsworth, Ken Cazan, and Chas Rader-Shieber; and conductors Leonard Bernstein, JoAnn Falletta, Leon Botstein, and Gerard Schwartz, among others. A Lifetime member of the Corporation of Yaddo, he has served as artist in residence at dozens of major universities and cultural institutions across the US, and currently serves as a member of the artist faculty of the Chicago College of Performing Arts and Wintergreen Music Festival. He is also a prolific essayist and director, and has published a critically-acclaimed memoir Duet with the Past (McFarland, 2019). Among the many labels that have released recordings of his works (including over a hundred art songs) are Sony Classical, Naxos, Bridge, and Albany. He lives in Upstate New York with his wife and two sons.