Profile

Francesco Ganassin is a musician and educator. His practice is rooted in a deep engagement with sonic systems and acoustic territories. This perspective emerges in his concerts and the instruments and software he builds, as well as in his teaching.

He plays clarinets, electronics and DzigaLoop, a digital tape looper of his own design, moving between new composition, improvisation and sound art. His projects, including New Landscapes, 2Grains and Breath, often bridge sound with theatre, installation and video. He has composed and performed scores for productions with actors and writers such as Giuseppe Battiston, Andrea Pennacchi and Massimo Carlotto.

Field recording is a constant in his work. His soundscape compositions have been featured in installations at the Barbican Centre in London and the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.

He has performed at festivals and venues including the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival (Finland), the Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci (Germany), De Ruimte in Amsterdam and the Middle East Technical University in Ankara. He was invited to present a solo work for clarinet and electronics at the Improvisation Festival of the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (Guelph, Canada).

Isole senza mar, recorded with the ensemble Calicanto, received the Prix Coup de Cœur from the Académie Charles Cros, which named it one of the four best world music releases of the year.

He works as a learning support teacher in middle school and coordinates inclusion across a comprehensive institute of eleven schools in four municipalities. He holds a university specialisation in support teaching for disability and a postgraduate degree in inclusive and innovative pedagogy.

His academic courses at the conservatories of Bologna, Castelfranco Veneto and Padova range from the study of traditional musical systems to ensemble practice and the improvisation practices of traditional cultures.