Lars Petter Hagen has been appointed Managing Director of Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo.

He will succeed Geir Bergkastet next year.

Hagen is currently Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the Bergen Festival. Over the years, he has held leading positions in Norwegian arts institutions since 2003, while at the same time pursuing an international career as a composer.

His international breakthrough as a composer came at Donaueschinger Tage für Neue Musik in 2005 with the commissioned work Norske arkiver, given its world premiere performance by Hilversum Radio Chamber Orchestra led by Peter Eötvös. He has been commissioned to create works by leading orchestras such as Donaueschinger Musiktage, Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien, Darmstadt Summer Course, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Collegium Novum Zürich, Radio France, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Cikada and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. He received the Arne Nordheim’s Composer’s Prize 2003 and the Edvard prize for his composition Passage – Silence and Light Triptych in 2004.