About C. Scott Hagler
Scott was born in Oklahoma, where he started piano lessons, and moved to Farmington, NM at age ten. He grew up at First Presbyterian Church, singing in the kids choir, and by the time he was a teenager he was accompanying and then directing choirs. When he neared high-school age, the church got a new organ and a great organist. Scott studied organ and played often for the church before heading to New Mexico State University, where he continued piano and organ studies with William Leland.
Scott had a parallel passion to music: graphic design. During high school he was the photo editor for the school newspaper, where he discovered a love for typography and caught the bug for laying out an attractive page. In college he worked for the school's PBS station designing on-air graphics and sets for special TV shows.
Upon graduating from NMSU, he returned to Farmington, opened an advertising agency and accepted positions at two churches -- First Pres, where he grew up, and First United Methodist -- playing for services, accompanying choirs, and directing ensembles of children and handbells.
In 1989 Scott accepted a job at a Presbyterian church in Denver. The move helped him expand his graphic design business, and he was soon designing magazines and marketing materials for multi-national tech firms. He went on to work at Park Hill UMC for about twelve years, before accepting a position in 2004 at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Durango, CO, where he worked for almost 11 years. During his time in Durango, with much help, he started 3rd Ave. Arts, which oversaw a recital series, the Durango Bach Festival and Durango Chamber Music Festival, among many other arts and arts-education events.
His recent retirement, after 45 years of serving churches on staff, has allowed much more time to return to composing and arranging.
