Twenty-two-year-old violinist William Hagen is the third prize winner of the 2015 Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition (the highest ranking American since 1980). 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 made his professional debut at age nine with the Utah Symphony. Since then he has performed with many symphony orchestras and conductors, including the symphony orchestras of Albany, Buffalo, Fort Worth, Jacksonville, Knoxville, St. Louis, Utah, and the Aspen Philharmonic; and with conductors including Marin Alsop, JoAnn Falletta, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Keith Lockhart, Fabio Mechetti, David Alan Miller, Lucas Richman, Christopher Seaman, and Ward Stare. Abroad, he has performed in Japan with the Yokohama Sinfonietta and the Sendai Philharmonic, and in Vienna under the direction of Johannes Wildner with the ORF Radio-Sinfonieorchester. William is also second prize winner of the 2014 Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition. 

Upcoming performances include a tour of Belgium with the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège conducted by Christian Arming (Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3) and with the Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Michel Tabachnik (Mendelssohn Violin Concerto); and a return engagement at the Aspen Music Festival (Lalo Symphonie espagnole).

During the 2015-16 season William makes his Bulgarian debut with the Sofia Philharmonic performing Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 4, gives a series of recitals in Florida, and returns to the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra for three performances of the Bruch Violin Concerto conducted by Michael Stern.

A native of Utah, William began violin lessons at the age of four. At age 10, he entered the studio of Robert Lipsett at the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts, commuting to Los Angeles for lessons. After two years of study with Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho at The Juilliard School, William returned to Los Angeles in 2012 to study with Robert Lipsett at the Colburn Conservatory of Music. William plays on an Andrea Guarneri violin (Cremona, c. 1675).