Born in New York, Arthur Fagen studied with Laszlo Halasz, Max Rudolf (Curtis Institute) and Hans Swarowsky.

From 1998 to 2001, he was invited regularly as Guest Conductor at the Vienna State Opera.

A former assistant of Christoph von Dohnanyi (Frankfurt Opera) and James Levine (Metropolitan Opera), he has served as Principal Conductor in Kassel and Brunswick, as Chief Conductor of the Flanders Opera of Antwerp and Ghent, as Music Director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra and a member of the conducting staff of the Chicago Lyric Opera.

In 2002-2007 he has been the Music Director of the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra and Opera, in 2008 he has been appointed as Professor at the Indiana University in Bloomington.

Arthur Fagen is in great demand as a conductor of symphony and opera both in Europe and the United States.

He is a regular guest at the most prestigious opera houses, concert halls, and music festivals at home and abroad, and his career has been marked by a string of notable appearances including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Staatsoper Berlin, Munich State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, New York City Opera, and orchestras like the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, Munich Radio Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, RAI Orchestras of Turin, Naples, Milan, Rome, to name but a few.

Arthur Fagen has recorded for Naxos and BMG.

Recent and upcoming engagements include Der fliegende Holländer (Atlanta), L'Italiana in Algeri and Lucia di Lammermoor (Bloomington), and Alice nel paese delle meraviglie (Palermo).