Just for the Night, the second of the three New York Stories one act operas with libretti by Barbara Grecki, is premiered. Antient Concert European Premiere. Amelia is workshopped by the Seattle Opera. Violin Concerto for Michael Ludwig and a consotrium of professional orchestras and Symphony No. 4: River Music for the Albany Symphony and Chorus are begun. Naxos releases the Shining Brow full cast-recording and the Finesterra Trio's recording of Hagen's four piano trios; the Vermont Orchestra, with soloists Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson releases their recording of Double Concerto: Masquerade; Albany releases first recording of Banner of My Purpose. Son Atticus is born.

Premieres include Orpheus and Eurydice, a triple concerto for the Amelia Piano Trio and a consortium of pre-professional orchestras, Agincourt Fanfare for brass, Piano Trio No. 4: Angel Band for the Finesterra Trio, the orchestral version of Broken Pieces, and the anti-war scena for baritone and military band Banner of My Purpose for a consortium of college bands. Steps down in September as president of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation. Various composer residencies, including the Seasons Festival in Washington, Composer in Residence at the Chicago Conservatory of Music of the Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and the Franz Lehar Composer in Residence at the University of Pittsburgh.

Bandanna complete recording under Hagen's baton released by Albany Records; Bandanna European Concert Premiere in England conducted by Mark Heron. Buffalo Philharmonic receives NEA grant for its revival of Shining Brow, conducted by JoAnn Falletta, and given an agit-prop semi-staging by Hagen. Gesture Drawings premiered by Vermont Youth Orchestra conducted by Troy Peters. Piano Trio No. 3 Wayfaring Stranger, premiered by the Finisterra Trio. Broken Pieces and Sappho Songs vocal scores published by Carl Fischer.

Conducts the staged workshop of the opera The Antient Concert, as composer-in-residence for the Princeton University Atelier, featuring the Borromeo String Quartet. Premiere of Romeo and Juliet, concerto for flute, cello and orchestra, by Jeffrey Khaner, Sara Sant'Ambrogio, and the Albany Symphony, conducted by David Alan Miller. Present Music and the Milwaukee Choral Artists premiere Flight Music on words of Amelia Earhart. The one act opera Broken Pieces is premiered by the Opera Theater of the University of Southern California.

Second four week residency at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Research and Conference Center in Italy. Songs of Madness and Sorrow and other works are released on Arsis. Opera Theater Company gives European Premiere and Republic of Ireland tour of Vera of Las Vegas. Carl Fischer publishes the flute sonatas and Su Lian Tan premieres Flute Sonata No. 2. Elected president of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation in New York.

Vera of Las Vegas receives its world staged premiere in New York City by the Center for Contemporary Opera. The National Symphony premieres Susurrus, the Amernet String Quartet premieres Alive in A Moment. Carl Fischer publishes the scores of Vera of Las Vegas, Jot! and Piano Variations.

Present Music premieres We're All Here for mixed chorus and chamber ensemble, the Albany Symphony premieres Chamber Symphony, Claire Vangelisti premieres the song cycle Letting Go in Portugal. Composes Piano Variations for Ralph Berkowitz. Conducts recording sessions of the opera Shining Brow for Arsis. Carl Fischer releases the Daron Hagen Songbook, an anthology of art songs composed over the span of 25 years; CRI releases the world premiere recording of the opera Vera of Las Vegas.

University of Nevada commissions Larkin Songs. Composes Angels for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in celebration of Yaddo's 100th Anniversary. Gary Graffman premieres Seven Last Words: Concerto for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra with Guillermo Figueroa and the New Mexico Symphony and JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic. The Knoxville Symphony commissions and premieres Advance to open their season. Composes Piano Concerto for Joshua Pierce and several short pieces for the Elements String Quartet.

Conducts recording sessions of the opera Bandanna; Arsis releases first CD of Hagen as a pianist (accompanying Paul Kreider). Accompanies Ashley Putnam in premiere of Phantoms of Myself at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Suddenly is premiered by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. Linda Donahue premieres Concerto for Oboe & String Orchestra with the Waukesha Symphony. Serves as an Artist-in-Residence at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and as Sigma-Chi-William. P. Huffman Composer-in-Residence at Miami University in Ohio.

Robert Spano premieres Much Ado with the Curtis Symphony, an overture commissioned to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Curtis Institute. As part of a composer-in-residency, Hagen conducts premiere of the cantata Light Fantastic for orchestra, tenor, & children's chorus. Qualities of Light for piano and Serenade for Ten Instruments are premiered. Teaches a seminar entitled From Art Song to Parola Scenica for composers, singers, and poets as part of Toni Morrison's atelier at Princeton University.

Third major opera Bandanna premiered by the University of Texas Austin Opera Theater. Conducts premiere of Forward! with the Madison Symphony. Artist-in-Residence at Baylor University. Leaves faculty of Curtis Institute.

Night, Again for wind ensemble premiered. Alexander Platt premieres Symphony No. 3 with the Waukesha Symphony. Creates Silent Night CD for Arsis. The Chicago Opera Theater revival of Shining Brow receives a Reader's Digest Next Stage Award. Second guest appointment teaching composition at the City College of New York; leaves the faculty of Bard College after ten years.

Second major opera Vera of Las Vegas is workshopped by the University of Nevada Las Vegas Opera Theater. Pacific Chamber soloists and Paul Sperry premiere the dramataic cantata Songs of Madness & Sorrow. Postcards from America for orchestra and Duo for Violin & Cello are premiered. Joins materials of music faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music until 1998. First Arsis CD released.

Wisconsin Brass Quintet premieres Concerto for Brass Quintet, commissioned in honor of the 100th Anniversary of the UW-Madison School of Music. Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra premieres Built Up Dark, Robert LaRue premieres Concerto for Cello and Orchestra with the American Symphony Chamber Orchestra. Present Music premieres An Overture to Vera. The Madison Symphony & Chorus premieres Taliesin: Choruses from Shining Brow. The Moravian Music Foundation commissions Stewards of Your Bounty for orchestra and chorus. Accompanies premiere of Merrill Songs.

The Kings Singers premiere The Waking Father at Tanglewood. Kurt Ollman sings premiere of Lost in Translation with the American Symphony Chamber Orchestra. Guest appointment teaching composition at City College of New York.

Premiere of Joyful Music for mixed chorus, mezzo and orchestra by the Madison Symphony, Concerto for Horn, with Winds & Strings, Everything Must Go! for brass quintet by the Brass Ensemble of the Orchestra of St. Luke's, and Concerto for Flugelhorn by the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra. Michael Morgan premieres the complete Symphony No. 2 with the Oakland East Bay Symphony. Receives Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency.

Premiere of first major opera Shining Brow by the Madison (Wi) Opera. Receives another ASCAP Young Composer Award.

Finale of Symphony No. 2 receives Kennedy Center Friedheim Prize. Philharmonia commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for its 150th Anniversary. Two ASCAP Young Composer Awards. Appointed Composer-in-residence with the Long Beach (Ca.) Symphony, JoAnn Falletta, Music Director.

After first working visits to Europe, beginning with a residency at the Camargo Foundation, begins decade-long appointment teaching composition and theory at Bard College in Upstate New York. Commissions from the Milwaukee Symphony, Juilliard Dance Divison (the ballet Interior), ASCAP Foundation, Denver Chamber Orchestra. The Brooklyn Philharmonic premieres Heliotrope, a Two Step for Orchestra, commissioned in honor of ASCAP's 100th Anniversary. Awarded the ASCAP-Nissim Award, a Jory Grant from the American Music Center, several reading sessions with orchestras under the auspices of the American Symphony Orchestra League, and a First Music 6 Chamber Music Commission from the New York Youth Symphony.

Attends the Juilliard School for composition studies with David Diamond and Joe Schwantner. Studies at Tanglewood with Leon Kirchner. Begins private studies with Leonard Bernstein. Symphony No. 1 premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra. First residencies at the MacDowell Colony, Virginia Center for the Arts, and Yaddo. Receives 1st Prize in the Barlow Endowment Composition Competition, the Bearns Prize of Columbia University, the Irving Berlin-Johnny Mercer scholarship to Juilliard, and three BMI Awards. Professional debut as a concerto soloist with the Denver Chamber Orchestra in 1986.

Attends the Curtis Institute for composition studies with Ned Rorem. Studies briefly with Witold Lutoslawski at the Evian Festival. Conducts premieres of nine new orchestral works in three years with the Curtis Symphony. Premieres of sixteen chamber works. Philadelphia Orchestra premieres Prayer for Peace. Receives the ASCAP-Barber Scholarship and the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Founds the Perpetuum Mobile new music ensemble which, over the next ten years, presents premieres by over forty American composers in Philadelphia and New York.

Attends the University of Wisconsin Madison for composition studies with Les Thimmig and Homer Lambrecht, conducting with Catherine Comet. Orchestral work Triptych receives Best New Work prize at the University. Receives ASCAP-Raymond Hubbel Prize.

Conducts premiere of first composition for orchestra, Suite for a Lonely City with the Park Promenade Youth Symphony in Milwaukee at the age of fifteen. Mother sends a score and tape of the work to Leonard Bernstein, whose enthusiastic response is to encourage Daron to study with David Diamond at Juilliard. From 1977-1979 studies theory, piano, conducting and composition at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music while attending high school.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Teaches himself to read music at the age of eleven. Private composition, piano and conducting lessons.