Joe Hagen

Joe Hagen- Joe Hagen is the executive director and a founding member of the Off The Dock Chamber Festival. As a multi-instrumentalist, music producer, composer, and music entrepreneur, Joe is currently based in Los Angeles, CA, running his music production studio Joe Hagen Music, LLC for a number of clients in the classical, pop, and film music genres. He has been creating and producing music for over 16 years and has a deep passion for organizing music events that feature his talented colleagues. 

Raised in Skaneateles, NY, Joe was a frequent concertgoer and volunteer for the world-renowned Skaneateles Festival which sparked his love and passion for classical music. He went on to get his bachelor's degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, studying viola performance with Grammy Award-winning violist Philip Ying (a former Skaneateles Festival Artistic Director), and audio engineering with Grammy award-winning audio engineer Stephen Roessner. He continued to complete his master's degree at Eastman's Beal Institute studying Producing/Composing for Film and Media with internationally recognized jazz composer Dave Rivello, Emmy award-winning film composer Mark Watters, and 6-time Emmy Award-winning film composer Jeff Beal. 

Since moving to Los Angeles, Joe's recordings, productions, and compositions have been heard over 100 million times. After being used in a Mr. Beast video and many other YouTube shorts by hundreds of creators, Joe's recording and mastering of several classical music favorites for world-famous YouTube personalities and streamers Ludwig and Jschlatt's Music Emporium have accumulated over 70 million total plays. These recordings, made in collaboration with Philip Milman, continue to be a source of professional quality copyright-free recordings available for YouTubers and streamers to use in their content for free. His orchestral musicals written for the viral YouTube channel "Pixel Playhouse" have been played over 45 million times on YouTube, YouTube Shorts and TikTok, and continue to be played nearly a quarter million times per month. 

In the Summer of 2021, in collaboration with "Garret's Space," a suicide prevention and mental health center based near Detroit, Michigan, Joe's 24hr live stream music concert series "HS Sessions" produced with Mario Sulaksana, was able to raise over $140,000 for the foundation. With this funding, the center was able to purchase a massive new property and wellness center working to reduce suicides and improve mental health in young adults. 

Joe has composed for, recorded as a viola soloist, mixed, and mastered a feature documentary called A Castle for Kyiv, directed by Madison Kinsella. A Castle for Kyiv follows the story of refugees who were fortunate to escape Ukraine at the advent of the Russian invasion in early 2022 and find refuge in a beautiful Castle in Tuscany, Italy. The documentary premiered last summer and is making the rounds at numerous film festivals across the country and internationally. It won best film at the Onyko Film Festival, and was an official selection for the following festivals: Beyond the Curve, Cannes World Film Festival, Oregon Documentary Film Festival, Korea International Short Film Festival, Swedish International Film Festival, SMR13 International Independent Film Festival, Berlin Indie Film Festival, Toronto International Women Film Festival, Montecatini International Short Film Festival, LA Independent Film Festival, and the Vancouver International Movie Awards. 

Joe has continued to grow his professional portfolio not only in the composition world, but also in the performance world. For the last year, Joe has been a part of the Riverside Symphony Orchestra under conductor Thomas Golka and was recently honored to perform in the world premiere of Christopher Woods’ Violin Concerto. Joe has also been a part of the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra (SBSO), under Conductor Anthony Parthner, who has conducted the soundtracks for Avatar: The Way of Water, Oppenheimer, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Encanto, Star Wars: The Mandalorian, Nope, Tenet, American Dad, Turning Red, League of Legends and more. In Joe’s first year in the SBSO, he has been privileged to be a part of several world premiere live performances of the opening theme from Mandolorian, a Selection of Themes from Avatar: Way of the Water, and he also was honored to play in the orchestra alongside Rob Theis as he performed Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto. Theis first captured worldwide attention in 1995 when he won the Gold Medal at the Second International Prokofiev Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. With this victory, Thies became the only American pianist to win first prize in a Russian piano competition since Van Cliburn’s famed triumph in Moscow in 1958. In addition to the symphonies, Joe was recently a featured performer at The Streamer Awards in a performance with Twitch personality and producer, BBNO$ (Pronounced Baby No Money), alongside other performers and personalities such as Harry Mack, Daily Dose of Internet, QTCinderella, and Pokimane. 

Aside from composing and performing in the classical world, Joe also runs a successful recording, mixing and mastering business in Los Angeles. This past year, Joe has been a featured string player, as well as mixed and mastered for numerous artists in the Los Angeles area and the US including Jacob Seigman, Audrey Barnes, Mario Sulaksana, Touk, Violet Crime, Alison Albrecht, Philip Milman, Nathan Kay, Caleb Minter, Daniellia, and BRNDNLii. All of whom can be found on Spotify or your favorite streaming platform. 

Joe's life is centered around bringing people together around the creation, love, and culture of beautiful music. Whether he is composing, mixing, mastering, producing, or performing, Joe's work embodies the power of music, promoting talented artists while serving the many diverse communities in which he is involved. Looking to the future, he plans to continue expanding Off The Dock's reach, promoting even more emerging artists, spreading the love of classical music, and touching the hearts of all who come to listen.