Jesse Gelaznik
Composer | Visual Artist | Music Director
Brooklyn, New York.
Email: jessergelaznik@gmail.com
Website: jessegelaznik.com
Profile
A multifaceted artist obsessed with sound in all its forms, Jesse Gelaznik composes for opera, installation, film, and performance art. He performs on guitar, synthesizer, and electronics with the performance art collective Dirty Churches and collaborates broadly across disciplines—music, visuals, theater, and film.
Education & Training
Intensive study in counterpoint with Judith Berkson and Western Harmony for Guitar with Jason Cady.
Commissions & Performances
2025
· Total Archive by Sue Huang – prerecorded soundtrack commissioned by Sue Huang, MoMA Titus Theater.
Death and Signs of Re-birth – commissioned by Alisa Minyukova and the Brooklyn Public Library; half-hour solo performance.
A Ransom Note! For solo violin, by Jangles Zeeski; part of S.E.M. Ensemble’s New Scores by emerging composers.
2024
Five Ways to Die – Mischief or Rathattan – chamber opera workshop with Experiments in Opera (Writers’ Room).
Spinner Song – vocal loop for multi-channel sound installation by Andréa Stanislav at the Russian Museum of Art.
2023
Cubes and Anarchy – 10-minute quartet for HUB New Music and Sembrich Opera Museum (in conjunction with the Hyde Museum), incorporating pre-recorded sound elements.
Sembrich Sound Trails – site-specific sound-walk installation.
2021
Surmatants – Mars Rising – multi-channel sound installation and musical score for Andréa Stanislav at Mattress Factory Museum.
RUMPLES – video opera with Mattress Factory Museum and Andréa Stanislav.
2020
Footnote for the End of Time – video illustrations for Theater in Quarantine.
2019
ERA OF GOOD FEELINGS – one-hour opera premiered at La MaMa Galleria.
Earlier Works
String Loop for THE AЯTS – 4-track tape loop for viola, La MaMa (2018)
PWR&$$$ – sound installation and CD, in collaboration with Daniel Garcia, presented at biennial events including Sharjah Art Foundation (2012) and Victoria and Albert Museum (2012).
Film & Theater Scores
Initials S.G. (2019), H. (2014), SkyLine (2015), Recommended by Enrique (2014) – composer on multiple projects by Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia, and others.
The Second Shift (2017) – scored episode(s) for TV mini-series.
Discography & Recordings
Falling (EP) – a collage-based sound-poem recording (2024), published by Cmntx Records; created through an experimental process assigning words to notes, with vocals by Heather Green and viola by Brianne Lugo.
Surmatants – Mars Rising (vinyl) – in collaboration with Andréa Stanislav, available via Printed Matter.
PWR&$$$ – Meditations On Inertia And Other Low Key Qualities – digital release, Bandcamp.
Dvorak – 1-minute sound-art piece available for download.
Getting Rid of the Glue – Dirty Churches release on Pendu Sound Recordings.
Multiple releases and streaming via Spotify, Bandcamp, SoundCloud.
Raking Light (EP) – released May 20, 2025; includes tracks such as “Angel of Despair,” “Into the Blue,” “Best of You,” “Headway,” and “Raking Light.” Collaborators include Melisa Bonetti Luna (vocals), Jared Barron (drums), H. Leon Harris (electric fuzz), and engineered by Eric Elterman. Cover art by Jesse Gelaznik.
Performance Art: Dirty Churches
Co-founded and performs with the New York–based collective Dirty Churches, blending ritual, mysticism, music, theater, and installation.
Performed works include Era of Good Feelings (La MaMa, 2019), RUMPLES (video opera, Mattress Factory, 2021), SIREN (Whitebox, NYC, 2023), EATER OF HEARTS (Whitebox, 2023), POWER MOVES (Whitebox, 2025), among others.
Visual Art & Illustration
An avid sketcher in pastel and charcoal, Jesse's drawings range from plein-air landscapes to science-fiction surrealism and were described in the New York Times as “stunning” and “eye catching” in the context of Footnote for the End of Times.
Press & Recognition
Featured / reviewed in:
New York Classical Review (on Experiments in Opera performance)
New York Times (visual work in Footnote for the End of Time)
Times Union (classical composition note)
Variety, The Hollywood Reporter (film reviews)
Huffington Post, Vice, Good Art News, Stereogum (varied coverage of music, film, and visual art).