Biography

Czech-American violinist and composer Matteo Hager, born in Prague in 2003, began playing the violin at the age of four. He graduated from the Music Gymnasium in Prague, where he studied under Professor Jiří Fišer, and earned a merit-based scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he currently studies with Professor Rodney Friend.

Matteo is a laureate of numerous national and international competitions, including the Czech National Music Competition, the Josef Micka Violin Competition, the France Music Competition, the Augustin Aponte Music Competition in Spain, the Note di Talento Competition in Italy, and the International Showcase Music Competition in Hamburg. He was awarded the Gold Medal at the 5th Manhattan International Music Competition and the First Prize at the Academy of Václav Hudeček.

In 2023, Matteo was recognized as a “Rising Star” by BBC Music Magazine.

He has performed as a soloist across three continents and collaborated with esteemed conductors such as Tomáš Netopil, Radek Baborák, Chuhei Iwasaki, Tomáš Brauner, Marek Šedivý, Petr Vronský, Jan Kučera, Naci Özgüç, and Alena Hron. Matteo has appeared as a soloist with renowned orchestras, including the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, PKF – Prague Philharmonia, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra, West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra, The Ukrainian-Czech Sinfonietta, I Virtuosi di Kyiv, PKS, Central London Orchestra, and the Bursa Regional State Symphony Orchestra, among others.

In 2023, Matteo represented the Royal Academy of Music as a soloist in New York. The following year, he performed as a soloist at the Konzerthaus Berlin during the Young Euro Classic Festival. As a laureate of the ISMC competition, he also appeared at the Winners’ Concert at the Elbphilharmonie-Laeiszhalle in Hamburg.

Matteo also collaborated with violinist Martina Bačová on the album Violin: Solos and Duets.

In addition to his performing career, Matteo is a passionate composer. As a laureate of the 2022 Showcase of Young Talented Soloists and Composers, he performed his original composition, “Threnody,” at the Rudolfinum as part of the Dvořákova Praha International Music Festival. In 2024, he premiered his Violin Concerto as a laureate of the Showcase in Prague. Matteo has also composed music for theater and film, including the French-Czech feature-length co-production Le Syndrome de l’été sans fin (2023), directed by Kaveh Daneshmand.

Matteo’s accomplishments are supported by several prestigious awards and grants, including the ABRSM Scholarship, the Albert Cooper Music Charitable Trust Grant, the Suresh and Richard McMillan Scholarship for Music, and the Comenium Musicum Academy MenART Grant from Božena Viskupová and Alena Viková.

Award: Silver Medal 2025

Photo Credit: Jana Plavec