Riccardo La Foresta is a percussionist and sound artist whose research of the last few years reveals a variety of sound-related practices.
Since 2015 he’s dedicated to the development of the Drummophone, an aerophone instrument obtained from drums that creates acoustic drones, ancestral melodies and complex beats drastically distancing the instrument from traditional drumming, and questioning the role of the drum as a percussive instrument.
At the same time, he creates site-specific performances, sound sculptures and installations without limiting his work to percussive-based approaches.
Oscillating between experimental and improvised music, sound art and avant-rock he played and presented sound installations at Unsound, Berghain - CTM, Terraforma, Sonica, OSA, Skanu Mesz, UH, Sacrum Profanum, LisboaSoa, LOST, Robot, AngelicA, Cafè Oto, Tempo Reale, Romaeuropa among others.
La Foresta worked as music programmer for NODE festival in Modena, where he lives and curates an ongoing residency program at La Torre. He has released music on labels including Subtext Recordings, OOH-sounds, Kohlhaas, Improved Sequence, Yerevan Tapes, and his music has been broadcasted all over the world, most notably on BBC radio, Radio France, East Village Radio, Radio 3, NTS. He's a Shape Platform 2021 alumni.
"La Foresta has pushed percussion music back into the realm of speculative improvisation"
Philip Clark, The Wire
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