He took composition, piano, and conducting lessons at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music while attending Brookfield Central High School. After two years at the University of Wisconsin-- Madison, where his teachers included Catherine Comet (conducting), Les Thimmig and Homer Lambrecht (composition), followed by three years of study with Ned Rorem at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Hagen moved to New York City in 1984 to complete his formal education as a student at Juilliard, studying first for two years with Diamond, then for a semester each with Joseph Schwantner and Bernard Rands.
Ned Rorem
Hagen