Swedish baritone Håkan Hagegård was born in Sunne, Sweden and began his musical training at the Municipal School of Music in Karlstad. He continued his education at the Stockholm Royal Academy of Music before going to the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

He then studied with Tito Gobbi and Gerald Moore, making his opera debut in 1969 as Papageno with Stockholm Opera. His Metropolitan Opera debut followed 10 years later.

He has performed in the world's most distinguished opera houses and concert halls including Carnegie Hall, the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Covent Garden, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, the Opéra Bastille, the Concertgebouw, the Grand Théâtre of Geneva, the Sydney Opera House, the Santa Fe Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the Stockholm Opera House.

A superlative recitalist, he has specialized in the traditional German repertoire and has recorded many of the great song cycles.

In 1992, Hagegård opened the HageGården Music Center. This unique complex was built with the premise that performers sometimes need a place where they may renew themselves in an atmosphere of peace and nature. The building, built among the forests of Sweden, welcomes students, musicians, actors, and other performers for master classes, seminars, retreats and recordings.