Jessi, also known as George, Harvey is a Montana-born, Puget Sound-based freelance composer and teacher. Works are rooted in a passion for bringing together scientific and musical audiences while integrating social curiosity, humor, and a love of knowledge. Performed across North and South America as well as Europe, Jessi's music has been described by Seattle Magazine as “full of surprises and consistently attention holding”.
Jessi’s work, by the nature of our conversation, won first place at the 2020 Darkwater Womxn in Music Festival. Jessi has worked with Opera Elect, the Art Song Collaborative Project, Strange Interlude, the Onomatopoeia Trio, Karin Steven’s Dance, Julia Lougheed, the Live Music Project and others. One of their favorite projects was the organization of THINGS THAT BREAK, a collaboration with three other women artists creating works based on the theme of breaking, awarded the 4Culture Tech Specific Grant. Work has been featured at the Music by Women Festival (2021, 2019), Darkwater Womxn in Music Festival (2021), and New Music Gathering (2020, 2021). Jessi was a selected composer at Unheard//of Ensemble’s Collaborative Composition Initiative (2021), Laboratoire de musique contemporaine de Montréal (2019), and the Waterloo Contemporary Music Sessions (2018). They were an artist-in-residence at the Rensing Center (2021), Open AIR (2022), and the Denver Botanic Garden's Landline Residency (2022).
Recent projects have focused on long-term collaboration with scientific organizations, artists and ensembles, and community non-profits. 2022-2025, Jessi was part of the Emlen Artist Co-Lab, a collaboration with choreographer, Julynn Wildman, Open AIR, Emlen Evolutionary Biology Lab, the Missoula Butterfly House and Insectarium, the University of Montana's Music Department, and others. The project, supported by the National Science Foundation, Prop Foundation, the Harnisch Foundation, Open AIR, the University of Montana, and individual donors, brings to life the Emlen Lab's research into the mysterious mating songs and dances of the Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle through music, dance, and costume, culminating in a final documentary in spring 2025. Beginning in 2025, Jessi formed a collaboration with the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Long-Term Ecological Research Study (MSP-LTER) and the 10th Wave Chamber Collective which will bring the MSP-LTER’s research to life though music and visuals at the Bell Museum in October 2026.
Jessi received the Seattle Symphony Orchestra’s Community Engagement Fund, Octave 9 Artist in Residence for a performance of their work, The Periodic Table, dedicated to the legacies of Primo Levi and Nicolas Patruno. Originally premiered by Charles Abramovic at Bryn Mawr College in 2024, the West Coast premiere will be performed by Jessica Andrews-Hall on May 8, 2026.