Daron Hagen has spent five decades developing a singular, multi-dimensional narrative practice that collapses the conventional boundaries between stage, score, text, and moving image. His extensive catalog—comprising 14 operas, 6 symphonies, 14 concertos, dozens of chamber and choral works, and more than 300 published art songs—is published by Peermusic Classical and recorded on major labels including Sony and Naxos. This lifelong path, shaped by early associations with mentors and collaborators like Leonard Bernstein and Gore Vidal, continues through an unbroken stream of commissions from organizations such as the New York Philharmonic and Seattle Opera, culminating in the creation of auteur operafilms distributed worldwide.

As an auteur operafilm-maker, Hagen writes, composes, directs, and edits his Bardo Trilogy. This lateral movement defines his entire output, connecting his work as a conductor, collaborative pianist, and stage director with his literary projects, which include the memoir Duet With the Past, the critical treatise Exploring Operafilm, and his current historical novel, The Rosebud Row.

A Lifetime Member of the Corporation of Yaddo and the founding artistic director of the New Mercury Collective, Hagen has received honors and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Kennedy Center, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has served on the faculties of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Princeton Atelier, is represented by Encompass Arts, and lives and creates in Upstate New York.