Biography

Ingunn Korsgård Hagen is a Norwegian conductor, experienced in a wide variety of ensembles and repertoire. As of February 2023, she holds the position of assistant conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra with chief conductor Edward Gardner. She earned this position after a successful audition in which the whole orchestra and Gardner voted on their preferred candidate. Prior to this role, she served as the assistant conductor of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, which she secured in a live-streamed competition organized by Talent Norway and Dirigentløftet. In addition, she was selected as a member of Dirigentforum for two years through the same competition.

One of her highlights with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra was joining them and Gardner on a two-week tour in Germany and Belgium. During this tour, she conducted rehearsals at Elbphilharmonie and collaborate with renowned soloist Augustin Hadelich and Vikingur Olafsson. She has already conducted many concerts with the orchestra featuring excerpts from iconic works such as “The Rite of Spring,” Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and Bach/Stokowski’s Toccata and Fugue.

As a part of her assistantship in Stavanger, she conducted projects such as concert recordings, school concerts, family concerts, and in her final concert as their assistant, she premiered “Dies Jovis (Blått Raseri)” by Nataliya Pavlyuk in a solidarity concert for Ukraine. She also assisted the chief conductor Andris Poga and other great conductors such as Dalia Stasevska, Tianyi Lu, Jan Willem De Vriend, and James Gaffigan.

In the summer of 2022, she was the only participant from the Nordic countries selected to participate in the Gstaad Conducting Academy. Over the course of three weeks, she got to work with the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, under the guidance of Jaap van Zweden, Johannes Schlaefli, and Baldur Bronnimann. During her time at the academy, she was chosen, among other things, to conduct a sold-out concert featuring soloist Anastasia Kobekina.

She has worked with numerous renowned conductors and orchestras in masterclasses and lessons. This list includes Jaap van Zweden, Johannes Schlaefli, Jorma Panula, Edward Gardner, Nicolás Pasquet, Sascha Goetzel, Hannu Lintu, Christian Ehwald, Ole Kristian Ruud, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, and Pazardszhik Symphony Orchestra. She also participated in the VIII Panula Competition, as the only participant from Norway.

Hagen completed her master’s degree in conducting at the University of Stavanger with Bjarte Engeset and Peter Szilvay as her professors. She also completed her bachelor´s degree in conducting at the same university under professor Trond Korsgård. During her studies, she immersed herself in historical informed performance and made a concert and lecture about Frans Brüggens impact on Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. In the concert, she performed Beethoven Symphony no. 3 (Eroica) with musicians from the orchestra who had played under Brüggen and received top grade for the project. For her final recital concert of the Master´s program, she premiered, among other repertoire, «Mountain Songs and Arias» a piece written and dedicated to her by the Norwegian composer Stig Nordhagen.

She has recently made her debut as an opera conductor, performing the Norwegian premiere of Philip Glass´ In the Penal Colony. In June she also conducted the opening concert of the Kirsten Flagstad Festival with excerpts from Massenet’s Manon, Puccini’s La bohème and Madama Butterfly among others. In this season, she has been chosen as a participant in Nordic Dirigentforum where she will conduct masterclasses with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra/Klaus Mäkelä and the Royal Stockholm Philaharmonic/Sakari Oramo.