“delicate, if deft, survivor” (downbeat) and flutist lee hooper seeks to build connection and understanding through exhales of honest emotion. an invitation is extended to listeners to self-reflect in the mirrors of comfort and discomfort.

hooper’s namesake is their late great grandmother, margie lee hooper, who was an author and poet and who both share the same birthday. their fascination with music was instilled by their late grandfather, who was always playing some hip tune on his cd player that young hooper would play along to.

their performance practice is channeled through a beloved collection of flutes gifted and handmade by friends, an array of looping, sampling, and multi-effect electronics, and sometimes voice and handpan if the moment calls. hooper’s debut ambient ep, soundbath sessions, was named a semifinalist in the 2022 petrichor international music competition for improvisation. they were one of two keynote speakers for mcgill university’s 2021 music graduate symposium, envisioning the future of performance practice in a disrupted society, all from the intimate lens of a former arts administrator living at the intersections of marginalized class, disability, gender, and race. a frequent collaborator in new york city, you may find hooper performing with las mariquitas, a political liberation project “reimagining salsa and challenging the patriarchy” (rolling stone).

hooper is a cloudvocal artist. they have been awarded fellowships and grants from remix-culture, public assistants, eureka!, the center for artistic activism, soaring gardens, and the friends of flutes foundation. hooper has performed at spaces such as the brooklyn botanic garden, the jazz gallery, the leslie-lohman museum of art, and lincoln center, and has performed across genres and mediums with artists such as joy guidry, key glock, mobéy lola irizarry, sara ramírez, and solange.

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