Genji Siraisi is a musician, composer, producer and serves as the Executive Director of the Museum of Music & Entertainment in New York City. As Director of MOMENT NYC, Genji has produced live events and music performances at the NY Library for the Performing Arts, The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, the University of Virginia, and at public gardens, Open Streets, clubs and DIY spaces in NYC. For MOMENT NYC he has executed education programing at schools in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, co-created the course Curating Sound for the University of Virginia, and procured funding awards from the NYC Dept of Cultural Affairs, the Manhattan Community Awards Program, The Local 802/AFM Musicians Performance Trust Fund, and the Citizens Committee for New York City. In partnership with Henry Street Settlement, Genji brought MOMENT NYC summer and after-school music programs to underserved students and children in family shelters in the Lower East Side, and to the free NYC COVID relief initiative, Summer Rising program. Mr Siraisi has worked with the New York City Council, the Street Activity Permitting Office, the Citywide Event Coordinations & Management Office, and the Department of Cultural Affairs over the past months along with the Music Workers Alliance to craft equitability and accountability into both the Open Culture Bill and the City Artist Corp Grants rollouts. As a music producer and world-touring musician, Genji has 20 plus years experience in live production, booking, promotion, and tour management. He is also a trained audio engineer, a former NABET broadcast engineer, a member of the Local 802 musicians union, and SAG/AFTRA.
Genji is a founding member of the New York City band Groove Collective who received a Grammy Nomination for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for People People Music Music. He has produced, composed, and recorded for Warner Bros, Universal, Savoy, London, Pony Canyon, Geffen, Sony, Virgin, and many smaller labels. Over his career, Genji has performed at major jazz festivals and venues around the world including Montreux, North Seas, Newport, JVC, Istanbul, Mazunte, Mt. Fuji, Red Rocks, Summer Stage, Winter Jazz Fest, and Celebrate Brooklyn. Notable studio work includes recordings with Masters at Work, Digital Underground, Chucho Valdez, Curtis Mayfield, Tom Browne, Rick Derringer, Joe Sample, Gary Katz, and Bob Power. On drums, he performed live with Tupac Shakur on MTV (voted #2 live rap performance) and for the Red Hot+ series with Pharaoh Sanders, Ramsey Lewis, Digable Planets, Last Poets, Don Cherry, Tony Williams, Natalie Merchant, Lester Bowie, and Duncan Sheik. Other live performances include The Sugar Hill Gang, Rahzel, Pharcyde, Branford Marsalis, Fred Wesley, Ultra Nate, Lisa Shaw, Carlos “Patato” Valdes, Jody Watley, and Bernie Worrell. Genji’s drumming can be heard in the feature films Comedian - Jerry Seinfeld, and Undefeated - John Leguizamo, Stolen Moments: Red Hot+ Cool, and his compositions appear in the films Libera: An Uncivil War, To Be Seen, Electric Signs, A Thousand Time More Brutal, and in work for companies including American Public Media, Pepsi, McDonald's, Boeing, Tylenol, and American Express among others.
