Oliver Hagen
Conductor/Teacher/Pianist
Conductor and pianist Oliver Hagen played piano on Third Coast Percussion’s 2017 Grammy-winning album.
Hagen is currently on faculty at the Juilliard Preparatory Division and Newark Academy. He has worked as a guest conductor at the Manhattan School of Music and the Mannes Preparatory Division. He was formerly Assistant Conductor of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, appointed by Pierre Boulez. Hagen had the good fortune to perform under Boulez’s direction towards the end of his life, playing Solo Piano 1 in Boulez's own work, Répons. This will always be one of Hagen’s most cherished memories.
As a pianist in Ensemble Signal for over fifteen years, Hagen has collaborated with Steve Reich, recording the music of the composer for Harmonia Mundi, and premiering the Reich/Richter in a two-month run celebrating the opening of the Shed in NYC. Also as a member of the ensemble, Hagen has appeared at venues such as Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, Lincoln Center Festival, Library of Congress, Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA, and the Big Ears Festival in Tennessee. Hagen conducted the ensemble in Peter and the Wolf at the Guggenheim, with fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi narrating.
Hagen has recently delved into the project of writing a textbook on conducting, inspired by his passion for teaching, his professional conducting work, a recent master's degree in Music Education at Hofstra University, and his doctoral degree in conducting with Brad Lubman from the Eastman School of Music.
© Peter Serling, 2018