My musical quest is focused on the dialogue between sound and landscape, between music and other expressions (theatre, cinema, calligraphy, sound art, jewelry, architecture, fairy tales, sculpture, painting).
As a clarinet player, composer and improviser I am involved in international experiences with New Landscapes, 2 Grains, Rituali, Radici, Eptagroove, Hattusha, Orchestra Popolare delle Dolomiti, Ottomani, Arsenale, Trio Adriatica, Calicanto.
I have held concerts all over Europe: Kaustinen Music Festival, Festival Interceltico do Morrazo, Nuoro Jazz, Bologna Jazz, Bergamo Jazz, Pisa Jazz, Segovia Folk, Tradicionarius Barcelona, Fira Mediterrania de Manresa, Stranger than Paranoia Festival, Festival Internazionale della Zampogna di Scapoli, Museo di Arte Orientale Ca’Pesaro, Notte della Taranta, Trad.It! Groningen, Mandopolis, De Ruimte Amsterdam, Middle East Technical University Ankara, Corum Hittite University, Itinerari Folk, Aplec Folk, Musikè, Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, MITO SettembreMusica, Dolomiti Contemporanee, Biennale di Venezia, ecc.
With Calicanto I have won Prix Coup de Coeur by Academie Charles Cros (Paris, F, art dir. Henry Dutilleux) for “Isole senza mar” CD, reported as one of the four best world music productions worldwide in 2006. With Eptagroove I have won Premio delle Arti (Afam – MIUR) for jazz ensembles, in 2010.
I compose and perform music for theatre, working with Giuseppe Battiston, Andrea Pennacchi, Giuliana Musso, Laura Curino, Marco Baliani, Titino Carrara, Ermanno Cavazzoni, Vasco Mirandola, Massimo Cirri, Mirko Artuso, and others.
I play clarinet and bass clarinet. As an ethnic woodwinds expert, I record for soundtrack composers (Henry Wan Man Lai, Nicholas Wright, Sergio Marchesini, Ankit Tiwari, ecc). I have recorded straight flutes, ocarinas, gralla, ciaramella, duduk for the soundtrack of blockbuster “Dragon Blade” by Daniel Lee, starring Jackie Chan, John Cusack, Adrien Brody.
I like creating small site-specific and site-responsive sonic entities, using simple objects and electronics, self-made hardware and software. They can become part of my live performance, of a concert or make their own life as standalone sound art works and interactive sonic installations.
I always look for an inclusive and innovative approach in didactics. I conceive educational paths of sound discovery for children, called Pìnfate! I hold workshops in large ensemble (All-In Orchestra). I have been teaching as a contract teacher Jazz Clarinet at Conservatorio di Adria, Traditional Music at Conservatorio di Padova and Conservatorio di Mantova, Ear Training (Jazz/Pop) at Conservatorio di Rovigo.
Francesco Ganassin 