New York
Michael Hagglund is a contemporary American composer and pianist whose music is melodic, and structured, and contains themes which develop consistently and naturally, making the music feel familiar yet new. His music includes elements from a variety of styles, including classical, folk, country, rock, new age, jazz, and more. He is both a composer and publisher member of ASCAP.
After several years self-taught, he began his formal music education, on an academic scholarship, at Hunter College in New York, where he earned a BA in Music. His primary piano teacher was John McSwiggan, and he also studied with Branislav Opacic, and Phyllis Hornick.
Since college, he has performed in numerous ensembles, composing and arranging music for several of them, and he has recorded for Mercury Records, the R&B label Shotgun Records, and for his own label, Widdershins Records, among others.
His first solo piano recording of original music, Journeys, was released in March 2012, and has been receiving favorable reviews in the United States and abroad.
“We all have special moments that we remember vividly, when something changed us forever. I remember as a teenager riding in a car when on the radio, I heard The Beatles for the first time. How music could make me feel like that amazed me, and does so to this day. That’s when I knew that I was going to be a musician.
There was a very creative music vibe in the 60’s when I was growing up, and it seemed to be everywhere. I tried my luck on a few instruments before settling on organ and playing that in several bands. In the meantime, I took piano lessons and got a degree in music from Hunter-Lehman College, CUNY. I didn’t actually become a piano player until, before a performance with my original band for a Buddhist Festival of Joy at Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center, my Hammond organ was damaged and I had to play the stage piano instead.
I believe it’s true for a musician that more can be learned, and more quickly, by performing, than by any other means. Before then, I only took piano lessons. That night I really played the piano. And I was hooked.
I’ve been a fulltime performing pianist for over twenty-five years, and was part-time before that. Recently, I’ve decided to concentrate on writing, recording and performing my own music. Journeys, for solo piano, is my first album”.
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