Hayden Ren is a 2025 winner of the WPO Student Concerto Competition. On November 1, 2026, the WPO Is featuring this talented young musician playing Dvorak’s Cello Concerto.

Hayden Ren is a freshman at Harvard University and studies cello with Blaise Déjardin of the New England Conservatory. She began studying cello at age eight with Allison Eldredge at the NEC Preparatory School, where she studied with her for nearly ten years.

Hayden was the First Prize winner of the 2025–2026 and 2023–2024 NEC Prep Concerto Competitions, as well as the First Prize winner of the 2021 NEC Prep Solo String (Cello) Competition in her age category. She also won the 2025 Boston Civic Symphony Young Artist Concerto Competition, the 2025 Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra Concerto Competition, and the 2024 New England Philharmonic Young Artist Competition. She received Second Prize in the 2026 Harvard Musical Association High School Achievement Award. She was Runner-Up in the 2023 WPO Concerto Competition and received Second Prize in the 2022 Brockton Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. In 2025, Hayden received the Grand Prize at the International Antonín Dvořák Classical Music Competition and Second Prize at the Gustav Mahler Prize Cello Competition. She was also a finalist in the 2025 Boston Pops Young Artist Competition and a semifinalist in the 2026 London International Concerto Competition.

As a cello soloist, Hayden has performed with the Boston Civic Symphony, NEC Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra, New Philharmonia Orchestra, New England Philharmonic, NEC Youth Symphony, Sharon Community Chamber Orchestra, Wellesley Symphony Orchestra, and ASMI Chamber Orchestra in Italy. She has appeared at renowned venues including Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, Hatch Memorial Shell, Gilles-Lefebvre Hall in Orford, Canada, and Teatro degli Atti in Rimini, Italy.

A devoted chamber musician, Hayden won First Prize in the Senior Division of the 2024 IX International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition with Trio Résonne, formed through the Rivers School’s ChambermusicLab program. During the 2024–2025 season, she participated in NEC’s Chamber Music Intensive Performance Seminar (CHIPS), performing with Trio Verus. The ensemble advanced to the quarterfinals of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2025 and to the semifinals in 2026.

During the 2026–2027 season, Hayden plays cello in the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO), Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (BPYO), and Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra (HRO). In previous seasons, she performed with the NEC Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, NEC Youth Symphony, and NEC String Chamber Orchestra. She has been a member of BPYO since 2021 and has regularly performed at Boston Symphony Hall. Through BPYO, she toured major international concert venues, including Philharmonie Berlin, Musikverein Vienna, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and Rudolfinum Prague in 2024, as well as historic venues throughout Greece in 2022, South Africa in 2023, Mexico in 2025, and China and Japan in 2026.