Biography
Luca Formentini was born in 1968 in Brescia, northern Italy.
He’s a music composer, sound artist, environmental activist and wine maker.
Fascinated by acoustic phenomena after recognizing the multiple layers of sounds (the harmonics of a piano) when he was 10, four years later he began to compose music through a free approach to the guitar on which he is self-taught.
Along his life he was exposed to different musical approaches by meeting some of their prominent names such as the creativity and flow of free improvisation with Derek Bailey, Jon Russell and Henry Kaiser, the poetry behind creating your own instrument with Hans Reichel, the width and wilderness of guitar with Elliott Sharp, the candid joy of using electronics to visit oblique territories with Holger Czukay up to a different use of processing, the one to flow into the magic, with Jon Hassell and Robert Rich.
Some of these amazing musicians have been or still are his mentors in music and life.
Such experiences have enforced his attitude to consider sound as a tool to explore, investigate and engage human depth by calling it back to its nature.
They formed his vocabulary and combine in his style, which sometimes make Formentini a musician difficult to classify into a specific music genre.
Evocative ambient moments acquire tension, angular passages become mysterious and poetic, chilling atmospheres blend with eerieness; timbres can morph from ethereal, esoteric and almost impalpable to dry, haunting and material. This can also happen simultaneously: contrasting sounds taking place on different layers fuse themself to open the emotional width.
The same is to be found in the structure of his songs, sometimes organized in recognizable sections, often making a unique flow or developing through passages as entering different scenes of the same story.
This results in keeping both himself and the listener engaged and connected.
He has a passion for human cultures, western philosophy and psycology, I-Ching, shamanism and Taoism. He loves languages and semantics, he speaks English and German and understands French.
He’s interested in different forms of artistic expression, abstract art in particular. We often find him collaborating with sculptors and painters, movie directors and dance companies.
Beside guitar he uses self made instruments, voice, field recordings and other acoustic, analogue and electronic instruments. He processes using hardware outboard and software.
He intensively works on processing sounds in real time, which is often making an essential part of his instrument.
He played and recorded with Markus Stockhausen, Robert Rich, Holger Czukay, Lino Capra Vaccina, Steve Lawson, Frank Vigroux, Steve Jansen, Theo Travis, Alvin Curran, Paolo Dellapiana, Stefano Castagna, Deborah Walker…
He has published five solo albums and has taken part to several releases of collaborations and side projects, he toured in Europe, USA and Japan.
Works
Upcoming releases:
- Album in duo with Robert Rich
- Album in solo
- Album in trio with Lorenzo Feliciati and Luca Calabrese
In solo:
- Intra- Subcontinental Records – India, 2021
- Art Spaces vol. 1 Laverna – Italy, 2020
- Scintilla Audiobulb Records/Ritmo & Blu – UK/Italy, 2018
- Tacet Extreme Records – Australia, 2007
- Subterraneans Auditorium Edizioni – Italy, 2003
Ensembles:
- Rêverie, with Markus Stockhausen – Dark Companion, Italy, 2023
- For Sundays When It Rains With Robert Rich – Soundscape Productions – USA, 2022
- Songs/Signs – Flos Audiobulb records – Ritmo & Blu – UK/Italy, 2019
- The Eyes – Sender+Flos – BaconAnDecks records – Germany, 2015
- Il Sogno Bianco – Flos – Segesto Invenzioni – Ritmo & Blu – Italy, 2014
- Flowers of Now With M. Stockhausen, T. Bouman, D. Walker, V. Fischer – 21st records – Italy, 2008
- Deep Ocean Inside – Isn’t – Sublime Label – Italy, 2005
Collaborations:
- 10 Tumbleweeds Piero Chianura – Apparemment Des Notes – Italy, 2017
- La visita Angela Kinczly – QBL – Italy, 2013
- Phoenix Angela Kinczly – Segesto Invenzioni – Italy, 2010
- 21st Century Holger Czukay – Revisited Records – Germany, 2007
- An Impulse of Acoustic Sunao Inami – Electr-Ohm – Japan, 2005
- Linear City Holger Czukay – Revisited Records – Germany, 2002
Compilations:
- Zaum vol.1 Psychonavigation records – Ireland, 2009
- Village of the Unfretted V.A. – Unfretted Records – UK, 2005.
- Beyond the darkness V.A – Oltre il Suono – Italy, 2005
- Cue One V.A. – Cue Records – Japan, 2004
- Locations vol. 1 V.A. – USA, 2001
- State of the Union V.A. – Electronic Music Foundation (E. Sharp) – USA, 2001
- Philter Phrenzy V.A. – USA, 2000
- Ambitative vol. 1 V.A. – USA, 2000
Site-specifics and installations:
- Polvere: contempoarary art exhibition curated by Anna Lisa Ghirardi San Felice del Benaco, 2021/22
- Hunting for Parrhesia: with Steve Piccolo, Gak Sato and Stefano Castagna Venice Biennale, 2015
- SubBrixia: with Alvin Curran, Francesco Fonassi and Stefano Castagna Brescia Metro – site specific and 5 months installation, 2018
- Organico Elettronico Celeste: with Agustina Mosca, Laurie Amat and Stefano Castagna – Santa Giulia Musem – Brescia
- All Brothers: with Eivind Aarset, Roger Mills, Markus Stockhausen, Claude Voit and Stefano Castagna – San Martino della Battaglia, 2014
- I Suoni delle Dolomiti: with Markus Stockhausen, Deborah Walker, Andreas Polygolupos, Davide Rossi and Tara Bouman – Valle Sella, 2006
- Il Sogno Bianco: Contemporary Art Museum of Lissone – Milan
- Pacciamina Leonesia: with Lucio Pozzi and Stefano Castagna, Leonesia Foundation – Puegnago del Garda 2015
- Contemporary Art Garden: Philipp Morris Foundation – Brescia, 2001
- Museo Santa Maria alla Scala: with Markus Stockhausen, Tara Bouman, Vera Fisher and Deborah Walker Siena, 2006
Visuals and movies:
- No Water: video performance by Pietro Gardoni 2022
- Attraverso: movie by Mario Piavoli Zefiro Edizioni, 2021
- Il Suono del Mio Passo: movie by Mario Piavoli Zefiro Edizioni, 2017
- Kaleidoskope: video about the artwork of Paolo Cavinato, by Mario Piavoli 2017
- Mondo: Albano Morandi Video installation for Venice Biennale 2007
Collaborations with artists:
- Albano Morandi (painting and sculpture)
- Lucio Pozzi (painting and sculpture)
- Vittorio Corsini (sculpture and installation) • Alvin Curran (installation)
- Mario Piavoli (video)
- Manuela Bondavalli (contemporary dance) • Julia Bornefeld (painting and installation)
- Pietro Gardoni (performance and video)
- Beatrice Faedi (theater performance)
- Patrizio Vanessi (installations)
As artistic director:
- Sei Chitarre Sole: Desenzano del Garda – from 2000 to 2007
- Sleep Concerts: from 2015 with Tiberio Faedi
On the web:
- About Luca as music composer www.unguitar.com https://bandcamp.com/lucaformentini
- About Luca as wine maker www.selvacapuzza.it
Contact