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Gelsey Bell is an American singer, songwriter, and actress, best known for her experimental music, as well as her portrayal of Princess Mary in the 2016 Broadway theatre musical Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812 and her performance in the original cast of Ghost Quartet.
Bell attended Lehigh University and received a BA with a double major in music and theatre and a minor in philosophy in 2004. She went on to New York University, graduating with a PhD in Performance Studies in 2015. Bell has several published performance studies pieces.
In 2007, Bell joined thingNY, a New York collective of experimental composer-performers. The group has created three concert-length operas: This Takes Place Close By, ADDDDDDDDD, and Time: A Complete Explanation in Three Parts. Bell was particularly praised for her performance in This Takes Place Close By; one critic called her "pure, translucent chorister's soprano" the "icing on the sonic cake.". In 2011, Bell co-founded the collective Varispeed, best known for durational performances of works by Robert Ashley and John Cage.
In 2012, Bell wrote and premiered Scaling, a song cycle, as a part of the Vital Vox Festival. The piece involved many forms of unconventional piano-playing, such as Bell lying on top of the piano and singing while playing. Bell wanted to express a connection between physicality, lyrics, and the way the songs were presented. Great Weather for Media called Bell's work "fresh" and "on the edge of what's happening."
Earlier in her career, Bell released a number of albums as a singer-songwriter, including Under a Piano (2005), February (2008), and In Place of Arms (2010). Most recently, she released Ciphony in collaboration with composer John King, which documented their work with Compagnie CNDC-Angers and Robert Swinston in restaging Merce Cunningham's EVENT. On Ciphony, Bell made use of not only her voice but vocoder and metallophone.
Bell worked again with Malloy as part of the original cast and co-arranger of Ghost Quartet (performing vocals as well as metallophone, Celtic harp, accordion, and percussion), and stayed with the show while it performed at various venues all over the US. Bell was praised by critics for her "astonishing vocal versatility," and was referred to as the "standout vocal performance."
In 2014, Bell was a performer in Crash, which was the last work of composer Robert Ashley. Crash is unique among Ashley's operas as it is performed completely a capella, with four voices audible at any given moment. The composer wrote the parts with Bell and her Varispeed colleagues in mind. Bell compared Ashley's work to "discovering a garden where different plants blossom on each visit.".
In 2015, Bell collaborated with Erik Ruin to create the show Prisoner's Song, an exploration into life in prison. Bell and Ruin utilized music, images, and recorded testimonials from former convicts in the piece. The pair additionally collaborated to create an art installation shown in Eastern State Penitentiary.
Bell was a featured performer and vocalist in the 2014 operatic film River of Fundament by filmmaker Matthew Barney, with composition by
Retrieved August 22, 2017. She has also collaborated on operas with composers Kate Soper (composer) and John King, and has worked with choreographers Kimberly Bartosik and Yasako Yokoshi.
Bell presented her evening-length piece "mɔɹnɪŋ morning//mourning" at HERE Arts Center in January 2023 as part of the Prototype Festival
| 2010 | Quarterly Arts Soirée | Performer | Webster Hall | New York |
| 2011 | Scaling | Performer & Composer | Roulette in Brooklyn | Vital Vox: A Vocal Festival |
| 2012 | Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 | Princess Mary Bolkonskaya | Ars Nova | Off-Broadway |
| 2013 | Kazino Meatpacking District | Off-Broadway | ||
| Banana Bag & Bodice's | Warrior 1 | Abrons Arts Center | New York | |
| 2014 | Crash | Performer | Whitney Biennial | New York |
| Ghost Quartet | Pearl White, Sheherazade, Soldier, Lady Usher, Camera Shop Owner | Bushwick Starr | Off-Off-Broadway | |
| 2014-2015 | McKittrick Hotel | Off-Broadway | ||
| 2015 | Crash | Performer | Roulette in Brooklyn | Off-Broadway |
| Prisoner's Song | Co-writer, performer | |||
| This Takes Place Close By | Performer | Knockdown Center in Queens | New York | |
| Ghost Quartet | Pearl White, Sheherazade, Soldier, Lady Usher, Camera Shop Owner | American Repertory Theater | Regional | |
| Curran Theatre | ||||
| 2015-2016 | Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 | Princess Mary Bolkonskaya | American Repertory Theater | |
| 2016 | Ghost Quartet | Pearl White, Sheherazade, Soldier, Lady Usher, Camera Shop Owner | Edinburgh Festival Fringe | |
| 2016-2017 | Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 | Princess Mary Bolkonskaya | Imperial Theatre | Broadway |
| 2017 | Ghost Quartet | Pearl White, Sheherazade, Soldier, Lady Usher, Camera Shop Owner | New York Theatre Workshop | Off-Broadway |
| 2018 | Seattle Theatre Group | Regional | ||
| 2019 | Improvement (Don Leaves Linda) | Linda | The Kitchen | New York |
| 2023 | mɔɹnɪŋ morning//mourning | performer | HERE Arts center | New York |
| 2025 | Ghost Quartet | Pearl White, Sheherazade, Soldier, Lady Usher, Camera Shop Owner | Green-Wood Cemetery | Ten Year Anniversary Concert |
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