A black and white image of an androgynous white person with short dark hair looking into the camera. They're wearing a white t-shirt and have one hand in their hair - their face is alternately lit with light and shadows.

CN Lester is a multi-genre musician, author of the critically-acclaimed Trans Like Me, and founder and artistic director of the groundbreaking arts event Transpose at Barbican. CN is both a classical singer (“Captivating, hypnotic” – Opera), improviser/deviser (“a truly-affecting performance” – OperaWire), and composer (“both beautiful and humbling” – Sabotage Reviews), and alternative piano-based singer-songwriter (“Atmospheric, emotional music” – The Advocate). Classical performance engagements include work with BBC Radio 3 & 4, Kings Head Theatre, Snape Maltings/Britten Pears Arts, Royal Opera House family Sundays, Spitalfields Music, Grimeborn Opera, and extensive work with Tête à Tête festival. Composition commissions include National Youth Choir, Fourth Choir, CRIPtic Arts, and Britten Pears Arts. As an ensemble singer they work across a broad range of projects with Trans Voices, London Contemporary Voices, and Heritage Orchestra, from new experimental commissions for the Serpentine Gallery to backing vocals for Trevor Horn and Goldie.

CN holds an interdisciplinary performance/research PhD on composer Barbara Strozzi, and publication of their original work on her life and music is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press. Academic research and teaching interests include performance and composition, gender and music, and the history of gender and sexuality. They work internationally as a trans/queer/feminist educator, writer, speaker, and activist. Words and alternative music on Newsnight, ITV, The Guardian, SBS, Sydney Opera House, Southbank Centre, Royal Exchange, The Arts Club, and arts and book festivals/radio/print worldwide. They made their fiction debut with the 2023 collection Furies, alongside Margaret Atwood, Ali Smith, and Emma Donoghue. CN is currently preparing the 2026 premiere of their Strozzi opera The Unknown Goddess, and working on their next singer-songwriter album, Fellow Travellers, their second non-fiction book, and a full-length work of fiction.

 CN lives in London - you can find them on Bluesky and Instagram