As a cultural ambassador, always believing in the transformative power of music, arts and creativity, Marcus Hagemann has founded, curated and directed many projects, festivals and formats of international cultural dialogue.
Born in Donaueschingen, raised on beautiful Lake Constance with intermediate stops in Cincinnati, Hamburg and London, he now is based in Berlin.
Marcus Hagemann studied cello with Lee Fiser and the Lasalle Quartet (Cincinnati, USA), Ulrich Voss (Saarbrücken, Germany) as well as William Pleeth and Moray Welsh (London, England). Parallel he studied Music Theory and History in Saarbrücken (Germany) and Cultural Management in Hamburg (Germany).
2002-2009 he was Artistic Director and Co-Director of the Festival Cully Classique on Lake Geneva. 2009-2014 he was Artistic and Managing Director of Nordlichter Biennale Berlin before he became Director of the International Cultural Initiative and Network Ars Baltica. 2012-14 he was invited to curate the Borusan New Series in collaboration with the Borusan Foundation in Istanbul.
Several times Marcus Hagemann won first prices at the National Youth Competition in Germany and was first prize winner of the competition CYSO in Cincinnati/USA. He was awarded the Cultural Price of the city of Constance, was three times selected as scholar by the Richard Wagner Foundation in Bayreuth, was a scholar of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and since 2015 is also fellow of Salzburg Global Seminar. He won prices at international competitions in Citta di Caltanisetta (Italy) and Kuhmo Festival (Finland) where he was awarded the Oleg Kagan Memorial Price.
Marcus Hagemann has worked with artists such as Heinrich Schiff, Irvin Arditti, Siegfried Palm, Frans Helmerson, Eberhard Feltz, Dimitri Fertschman, Henry Pousseur, Christoph Poppen and Wolfgang Boetcher, has recorded for most of the German, Austrian and Swiss radio stations and has done several TV- and CD-Productions. Among the artists and Ensembles he performed with are: Eduard Brunner, Dimitri Ashkenazy, Natalia Gutman, Muriel Cantoreggi, Geneviève Strosser, Giora Feidman, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Bernd Glemser, Bruno Giuranna, Thomas Grossenbacher, Bertrand Chamayou, Oliver Kern, Liao Yiwu, Yannick Déléz, Chloé Lévy, Bengt Forsberg, Björn Lehmann, Quatuor Sine Nomine, Quatuor Terpsycordes. Hilliard Ensemble and Etta Scollo.
Concerts have brought Marcus Hagemann into halls and festivals worldwide such as Barbican Center London, Cincinnati Music Hall, Kölner Philharmonie, Musikhalle Hamburg, Konzerthaus Berlin, Kultur und Kongressaal Graz, Minoritensaal Graz, Prinzregenten Theater München, Sala Mereilles Rio de Janeiro, Sala Sao Paulo, Berliner Philharmonie, Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Musikfestival, Festival Cully Classique, Kona-Kohala Music Festival Hawaii, Mozarteum Sao Paulo or Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker.