Will Hagen

Violinist William Hagen is the third prize winner of the 2015 Queen Elisabeth Competition (the highest ranking American since 1985). Having captured the attention of the Belgian press and public during the competition, William has been hailed as a “brilliant virtuoso…a standout” (The Dallas Morning News) with “an intellectual command of line and score, and just the right amount of power” (violinist.com) who “plays with an obvious and sincere love for the very act of music making” (North Texas Performing Arts News). Already a seasoned performer on concert stages around the United States and abroad, William’s 2016–2017 season includes debuts with the Oregon and Pasadena symphonies and recitals at Ravinia and the Center for Fine Arts in Brussels, among others. Since his professional debut at age nine with the Utah Symphony and Keith Lockhart conducting, William has performed with conductors Marin Alsop, Christian Arming, Plácido Domingo, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Fabio Mechetti, Ludovic Morlot, Ward Stare, Michael Stern, Michel Tabachnik, Arie van Beek, and Hugh Wolff; and with the symphony orchestras of Albany, Fort Worth, Jacksonville, St. Louis, and Shreveport; the Utah Symphony; the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; and with the Aspen Philharmonic at the Aspen Music Festival. Abroad, he has performed with the Brussels Philharmonic, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the ORF Radio-Sinfonieorchester, the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra (Bulgaria), and with the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège in a tour of Belgium. He has also performed in Japan with the Yokohama Sinfonietta and the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra. Recent performances include return engagements with the Utah Symphony (Deer Valley Music Festival), Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, and the Aspen Music Festival and School; recitals in Brussels, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and at the Colmar Festival (France); and performances with Gidon Kremer, Christian Tetzlaff, and Steven Isserlis as part of the Chamber Music Connects the World festival at the Kronberg Academy (Germany). Active and enthusiastic as a chamber musician, William has performed with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players in New York City, the Colburn Chamber Music Society in Los Angeles, and at the Aspen Music Festival and School with artists such as Veronika Eberle, Narek Hakhnazaryan, Edgar Meyer, Steven Osborne, Orli Shaham, Robert Spano, Joaquin Valdepeñas, and Joyce Yang. William has also had the privilege of performing Mozart’s Sonata K. 454 with pianist Menahem Pressler in Los Angeles. A native of Utah, William first heard the violin at the age of 3 and began lessons at the age of 4. At age 10, he entered the studio of Robert Lipsett at the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts, commuting to Los Angeles every week for lessons. After studying with Itzhak Perlman at The Juilliard School for two years, William returned to Los Angeles in 2012 to continue studying with Robert Lipsett at the Colburn Conservatory of Music. In Fall 2016, William joins the prestigious Kronberg Academy in Germany. He is an alumnus of the Verbier Academy and the Perlman Music Program, and spent many summers at the Aspen Music Festival and School. William plays on an Andrea Guarneri violin (Cremona, c. 1675.)