About

Owen Hopper is a sound artist, composer, educator, and improviser whose work focuses on fragile correlations between landscape and meaning. Much of his work meditates on our relationship with technology, issues of modernity, and acoustic ecology. Through ideas that encompass sound, digital media, field recordings, found objects, and loudspeaker arrays he often collaborates with visual artists, scientists, and writers to develop pieces that seek to provoke thoughtful discussions around issues involving humans, digital culture, and the environment.

His sonic world creates a balance between harmonious natural sounds and the sonic palette of digital glitches, sound degradation, and failure. His practice revolves around texture and timbre, density and openness, as well as aspects of minimalism. Deep Listening® is an integral part of his life and work. Besides daily practice, Owen completed the certification intensive I through Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2021.

His projects have been funded through grants from the Ohio Arts Council, The Greater Columbus Arts Council, The University of Cincinnati, as well as Otterbein University. His work has been performed at ICMC, SEAMUS National Conference, Earth Day Art Model, The Electroacoustic Barn Dance, West Fork New Music Festival, The Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, Studio 300, the Midwest Composers Symposium, and at various concerts in the Columbus and Cincinnati areas.

He is currently on the faculty at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as well as Visiting Faculty at Miami University in Oxford, OH. He holds a MM in composition from CCM, where he studied composition and computer music with Mara Helmuth, and BA from Otterbein University where he studied with Jennifer Merkowitz and Charlie Wilmoth.

He is a passionate believer in taking music out of the concert hall and presenting it in unique public spaces and does this as an active member of the greater Columbus and Cincinnati music scenes, playing in bands and solo as he continues to explore a deep, personal relationship with the guitar and an integrated aesthetic with his laptop. He frequently also works scoring experimental films, doing foley work, and other sound-related media content. Owen Scored "sphragida" in early 2020, a political drama that has won awards at multiple film festivals, including an "Award of Excellence" from the BEA Festival of Media Arts. Owen is a lover of coffee, jazz, and strange films, and is also an avid rock climber.