Performer, composer, production manager, educator, writer, labor activist, and cultural policy consultant – Sidney Hopson is a consummate arts professional. A member of the Grammy-nominated ensemble WildUp, Sidney has performed as percussionist, timpanist, drummer, and hand percussionist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Muse/ique, Color of Noize Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Los Angeles Opera, Pasadena Symphony & POPS, New West Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, ReCollective Orchestra, and Southeast Symphony. He has performed at the Academy Awards, NPR’s Tiny Desk, the Coachella Festival, Sick New World Festival, the American Music Awards, La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, Spoleto Festival USA, Ojai Music Festival, Lincoln Center Festival, Hear Now Music Festival, and the Kennedy Center’s RiverRun Festival.
He has performed and recorded alongside a vast range of artists, including: John Adams, Adam Blackstone, Adele, Anderson.Paak, Andy Akiho, Billie Eilish, Burt Bacharach, Claire Chase, James Conlon, Keith David, Dr. Dre, Alan Gilbert, John Debney, Lamont Dozier, Earth Wind & Fire, Danny Elfman, Peter Eötvös, Rhiannon Giddens, Robert Glasper, Philip Glass, Derrick Hodge, Justin Hurwitz, Dev Hynes, Chaka Khan, Alicia Keys, the Kronos Quartet, Seth MacFarlane, Ricky Martin, Rickey Minor, the New York Philharmonic, T-Pain, Dirty Projectors, Ellen Reid, Rihanna, Mr. Craig Robinson, The Roots, Kaija Saariaho, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jordin Sparks, Joseph Trapanese, Dionne Warwick, Eric Whitacre, John Williams, Harry Gregson-Williams, Stevie Wonder, and more.
He has performed on-camera and on the soundtracks of over 100 films and TV shows, including: Superman (2025), Elio, Murderbot, Disney’s The Lion King 30th Anniversary: A Live-to-Picture Concert (Disney+), Beverly Hills Cop 4: Axel F, Murderbot, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Story Ave, Avatar: The Way of Water, Nope, Encanto, The Orville, Coming 2 America, Pride (Hulu), Dolemite Is My Name, Men In Black: International, The Grinch (2018), Goosebumps, Big Eyes, Kedi, and GLEE.
Sidney produces arts programs, strategic plans, policy, and legislation for cultural organizations, government agencies, and NGOs in the United States and abroad. His work focuses on the intersections of the arts and human rights, social and economic justice, education, labor rights, mental health, crime prevention, counterterrorism, international development, refugee aid, geopolitics, and climate change. He has presented arts research and strategies at the United Nations General Assembly and the NATO Summit. Currently, he is developing a record label in Jordan to support refugee-artists across the Middle East.
He serves on the boards of directors of Wild Up and the Recording Musicians Association of Los Angeles (RMALA). He recently served on the American Federation of Musicians of the United States & Canada (AFM) Artificial Intelligence Subcommittee for motion picture & film contract negotiations with the Alliance for Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP). He is an AFM delegate to the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor (LA FED) and an alum of the LA FED’s Black Organizing Institute. He has presented guest lectures and masterclasses at The Juilliard School, USC, Butler University, UCLA, CalArts, Orange County High School of the Arts, the Harvard-Westlake School, and the Music Academy of the West.