CN Lester
{{short description|British musician and activist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=April 2015}}
{{infobox person
|name=CN Lester
|nationality=British
|occupation=Singer
|website={{URL|cnlester.com}}
|birth_date={{Birth year and age|1984}}
}}
CN Lester (born 1984) is a British classical and alternative singer-songwriter, as well as an LGBT and transgender rights activist.{{cite web |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/voices/2013/01/trans-role-models-janet-mock-paris-lees-cn-lester-and-luke-anderson |title=Trans role models: Janet Mock, Paris Lees, CN Lester and Luke Anderson |last=Reuben |first=Matthew |date=17 January 2013 |website=New Statesman |access-date=22 March 2016}} They were rated 41st on The Independent on Sunday
Career
Lester is a mezzo-soprano who specializes in castrati and travesti opera, as well as early and classical music and works by female composers. Classic FM has showcased their work and research on travesti roles, while BBC Radio 4's Front Row has included their work with Silent Opera. They've cited Lou Reed and Tchaikovsky as amongst their earliest influences, aged 3–4.
As a child, Lester began learning to play the piano at age 6, and received vocal coaching from age 13. They went on to obtain a BMus degree from King's College London and an MMus from Goldsmiths, University of London.[https://www.abcd.org.uk/storage/About_CN_Lester.pdf About CN Lester] - website of Association of British Choral Directors In 2019, Lester received a PhD degree in music from the University of Huddersfield.[http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/35488/ PhD Thesis CN Lester: Representing Strozzi: A Critical and Personal Re-Evaluation of her Life and Music] - website of the University of Huddersfield Repository
Their albums Dark Angels and Aether were funded using crowdfunding platform Indiegogo and raised US$3414 and £4575, respectively.
In addition to performing live and recording music, Lester works as a teacher and an author. Their debut opera, The Lion-Faced Man, appeared at Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival in August 2015, including a libretto by Hel Gurney and sung by Alison Wells. Their first book, Trans Like Me: A Journey For All Of Us was published by Virago Press in May 2017, which they credited as being inspired by Bill's New Frock by Anne Fine, Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel, and My Gender Workbook by Kate Bornstein.
Discography
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| Released = 2009
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| Tracks = "Playback", "Brackets", "Wayfaring Stranger"
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| Released = 2012
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| Tracks = "Ashes", "Tongue", "Shiver", "Fractals", "Fever", "Disappear", "Lullaby", "Joan of Arc"
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| Type = Studio
| Other info = with Toby Carr
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| Released = 2012/2013
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| Writers = Benjamin Britten, Peter Maxwell Davies, Jonathan Kulp, Philip Lawton
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| Tracks = "Songs from the Chinese, Op. 58: II. The Old Lute", "Songs from the Chinese, Op. 58: III. The Autumn Wind", "Songs from the Chinese, Op. 58: IV. The Herd-Boy", "Songs from the Chinese, Op. 58: V. Depression", "Farewell to Stromness", "Dark Angels, Op. 50: The Drowning Brothers", "Dark Angels, Op. 50: II. Dark Angels", "Dark Angels, Op. 50: III. Dead Fires", "Five Lullabies: Lullaby II", "Five Lullabies: Lullaby IV", "Five Poems of Emily Dickinson: II. I Had Been Hungry", "Five Poems of Emily Dickinson: III. I'm Nobody", "Five Poems of Emily Dickinson: IV. I Had a Guinea", "Nocturnal After John Dowland, Op. 70"
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| Released = 2014
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| Tracks = "Lockdown", "Sparks", "Codine Blues", "Anonymous", "You", "Your Hands", "Low", "Aether"
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Awards
Lester was ranked 41st on The Independent on Sunday
Identity
Lester is out as genderqueer, and has been hailed as a role model for combining their identity and their public career. They have spoken about having difficulties finding work because of their gender identity and expression:
{{blockquote|Classical music, now, is very conservative. I can't get chorus work because I wouldn't be willing to wear female clothes or be a member of a women's chorus. ... They didn't see that they were in the wrong – they thought I was wrong for daring to apply. So it was very much "We don't want people like that associated with us" and they were happy to put it down in writing.}}
To preserve their singing voice, Lester has not used testosterone treatments, although they've since spoken about their own research showing losing a singing voice is not always a result of such therapy.
References
{{reflist|refs=
{{cite web|url=http://archive.artsawardvoice.com/magazine/articles/interviews/backstage-cn-lester|title=Backstage with... CN Lester|last=Tebble|first=Jon|date=6 December 2012|work=Arts Award Voice|publisher=Trinity College London|accessdate=18 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222124911/http://archive.artsawardvoice.com/magazine/articles/interviews/backstage-cn-lester|archive-date=22 December 2015|url-status=dead}}
{{cite web|url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/virago-publish-agenda-setting-trans-me-318752|title=Virago to publish 'agenda-setting' Trans Like Me|first=Katherine|last=Cowdrey|date=18 December 2015|accessdate=18 December 2015|website=The Bookseller}}
{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/cnlestermusic/photos/a.207931029242394.47404.110572575644907/1117753341593487|date=7 September 2016|accessdate=7 September 2016|last=Lester|first=CN|website=Facebook|title=Incredibly proud – and a bit amazed – to be able to share the cover of my first book ...}}{{Primary source inline|date=October 2019}}
{{cite web|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/books/interview-cn-lester|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128030343/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/books/interview-cn-lester|title=Books interview: CN Lester|date=25 May 2017|access-date=28 November 2021|archive-date=28 November 2021|work=Times Higher Education|url-status=dead}}
{{cite web|url=http://www.thefword.org.uk/reviews/2010/06/love_sacred_and|title=Love: Sacred and Profane|last=Welsh|first=Katie|date=18 June 2010|work=The F-Word|accessdate=26 April 2014}}
{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/the-independent-on-sundays-pink-list-2013-8876183.html|accessdate=15 October 2013|date=13 October 2013|title=The Independent on Sunday's Pink List 2013|newspaper=The Independent on Sunday}}
{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/therainbowlist/rainbow-list-2014-1-to-100-9848457.html|title=Rainbow List 2014, 1 to 101|accessdate=9 April 2015|date=9 November 2014|newspaper=The Independent on Sunday}}
{{cite news|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/voices/2013/03/dont-mean-girls-table-check-out-rest-room-0|title=Don't like the Mean Girls' table? Check out the rest of the room|last=Lester|first=CN|date=22 March 2013|accessdate=23 October 2013|newspaper=New Statesman}}
{{cite web|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/voices/2013/01/trans-role-models-janet-mock-paris-lees-cn-lester-and-luke-anderson|title=Trans role models: Janet Mock, Paris Lees, CN Lester and Luke Anderson|last=Reuben|first=Matthew|date=17 January 2013|work=New Statesman|accessdate=28 October 2013}}
{{cite news|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/03/11/interview-genderqueer-performer-cn-lester/|title=Interview: Genderqueer performer CN Lester|last=Lees|first=Paris|author-link=Paris Lees|work=Pink News|date=11 March 2011|accessdate=28 October 2013}}
}}
External links
- {{official website|http://cnlester.com/}}
{{Portal bar|LGBTQ|Rock music|Opera|Classical music|Biography}}
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Category:21st-century British LGBTQ people
Category:21st-century British singer-songwriters
Category:Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London
Category:Alumni of King's College London
Category:British mezzo-sopranos
Category:British LGBTQ singer-songwriters
Category:British LGBTQ rights activists
Category:British non-binary musicians
Category:Non-binary singer-songwriters