Luca Formentini

Composer and sound artist Luca Formentini’s atmospheric aural landscapes are built from components such as guitar, strings, and homemade instruments (wood, metal, electronic) as well as voice and field recordings. Amid various collaborations and side projects, Formentini’s solo albums include his 2003 debut Subterraneans and 2018′s Scintilla, his third full-length release.
Born in Brescia, Italy in 1968, Formentini started out on the piano at age ten, moving on to what would become his primary instrument, the guitar, at 14. That’s when he started he first band, Modus Vivendi, and was inspired to continue creating, playing only original material. After performing in a series of groups, with bandmates who have included the likes of Francesco Renga and composer/arranger Cristian Piccinelli, he turned his focus to solo compositions in the late ’90s. Arriving in 2003, his first album, the hour-plus Subterraneans (Auditorium), consisted of 16 varied vignettes. Tacet (Extreme) followed in 2007 and again combined a variety of genre inspirations and moods. In the meantime, Formentini toured parts of Europe, the U.S., and Japan, and collaborated with artists ranging from Markus Stockhausen and Jean-François Zygel to Holger Czukay and Steve Jansen.
He started the improvisational duo Flos with Stefano Castagna in 2011 and spent time developing his craft as a winemaker. Formentini returned with his third solo album, Scintilla, on Ritmo&Blu and Audiobulb Records in 2018. ~ Marcy Donelson