Betty-Jean Hagen

Betty-Jean Hagen (October 17, 1930 – December 29, 2016) was a Canadian-born violinist and musical educator living in the United States. She also gave a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II, and had her New York debut as a soloist at Carnegie Hall.

Around 1957, Hagen married Vincent Greicius, a violinist with the Metropolitan Opera Company. He died in 1993. The couple settled in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. They had two daughters and a son. One of her daughters, Elaine Greicius Tenca, also a violinist, died in 2008 at the age of 49. Her other daughter, Valerie Greicius Oster (also Valerie Gracious) is a singer and keyboardist in the progressive rock band Phideaux.

During the 1970s, Hagen gave private lessons and coached chamber ensembles, primarily for students in their teens. She has served as concertmaster for the Westchester Symphony Orchestra, the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra and the Orange County Chamber Orchestra. During the early 1980s, she performed in a number of Canadian venues with orchestras and with a piano quartet. In 1985, she began teaching violin at Vassar College; she also taught at the University of Western Ontario from 1985 to 1989.