Iconoclast

LEO CIESA (Drums, percussion, keyboards, vocals) is a New Yorker. Originally from Sweden, he taught drums and played a wide variety of music in Europe until he came to the United States in 1981 to study at the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, NY, and at the Dick Grove School of Music in Los Angeles. He was based in LA and Baltimore before moving to New York City in 1986. Leo Ciesa is also the drummer in the septet Doctor Nerve and can be heard on their recordings „Did Sprinting Die?,” „Beta 14 ok,” „Skin,” „Every Screaming Ear,” and „Ereia” (Cuneiform Records) and on „Live at the Knitting Factory, Vol. 3″ (A&M Records). He is also on Micro-East Collective’s CD „Out of My Face” (Umbrella) and Larry Polansky’s „Change” (Artifact). Leo Ciesa has an endorsement with Pro-Mark drum sticks.

JULIE JOSLYN (Alto saxophone, live electronics, violin, vocals) is a native New Yorker. She studied for a number of years with soprano saxophonist and composer Jane Ira Bloom. She has played with the Indian-influenced rock quintet Church of Betty, and can be heard on MacLean and Ponomarenko’s album „Music Without Computers” and as guest screamer on Doctor Nerve’s „Skin.” In addition, she is a practicing psychoanalyst and painter.

ICONOCLAST is a duo comprised of Julie Joslyn (alto saxophone, live electronics, violin, vocals) and Leo Ciesa (drums, percussion, keyboards, vocals). Ciesa and Joslyn have been composing and performing together since the beginning of 1987 and have developed a bold and distinctive sound. ICONOCLAST’s music and performance is known for its intensity, physicality and „larger than duo” impact. Acoustic and electronic sounds exist side by side as the music moves between improvisation and composition without stylistic limitation.

ICONOCLAST plays regularly in New York City and also frequently performs throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Ciesa and Joslyn have performed at various festivals, including the Avantgarde Jazz Festival in Imola, Italy; Audio Art Festival in Krakow, Poland; Sziget Festival in Budapest, Hungary; International Ring Ring Festival in Belgrade, Serbia; Pohyb-Zvuk-Prostor Festival in the Czech Republic; Il Festiwal Muzyka z Mozgu in Bydgoszcz, Poland; Interzone International Festival in Novi Sad, Serbia; and The DUMBO Arts Festival, Festival of Women Improvisers, and NYU Independent Music Fest in New York City. ICONOCLAST has been featured on various radio and television programs worldwide. Joslyn and Ciesa have done numerous radio and television interviews as well as a live on-the-air concert on WFMU-FM. ICONOCLAST composed and performed the title theme music for the cable television series „Labor at the Crossroads,” and has been featured on the TV series „Welcome to Nocturnia (The Art World).” The duo composed and performed the music for the documentary film „Savage Acts: Wars, Fairs and Empire” and the website „The Lost Museum” (American Social History Productions, Inc.). ICONOCLAST’s music provides the score for the short films „The Bench” (Poland, 2010) and „Con gli occhi di domani”/”With Tomorrow’s Eyes” (Italy, 2007). ICONOCLAST contributed compositions to the compilation CDs „The NYFA Collection: 25 Years of New York New Music” (Innova, 2010) and „Transforms: The Nerve Events Project” (Cuneiform Records). The duo has collaborated and performed with noted Polish poet Andrzej Dorobek. Ciesa and Joslyn have received grants from Meet the Composer and from Arts International: The Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions, and are recipients of Artist’s Fellowships in Music Composition from the New York Foundation for the Arts.