Francesco Rista is an Italian guitarist and composer based in Iceland, whose work spans a wide spectrum of colors and textures, constantly pushing the boundaries of modern crossover music. His passion for baroque repertoire led him to create an original arrangement of Bach’s Second Partita for Violin,  (Stradivarius) followed by his second album, MAGNIFICAT (Con Fuoco Records), a vibrant dialogue between tradition and innovation. Rista has been the dedicatee of works by composers including Finnur Karlsson, Kevin Swierkosz-Lenart, Nick Martin, and Evagoras Solias Apokidis, and he premiered the guitar concerto by English composer Oliver Davis. On the electric guitar, he has performed Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint on multiple occasions and recorded John Cage’s DREAM and Bryce Dessner’s Garcia Counterpoint on his own label, Fresh Ribes.

With his ensemble ELECTRIO, he released the album STABAT MATER (Fresh Ribes) in September 2025, which was widely reviewed in international magazines such as Salt Peanuts, Psychedelic Baby, Fifteen Questions, among others. The album got played on BBC Radio 6 and RAI Radio 3.

As a composer, his works have been performed across Europe: Nothing New (Harpa, Reykjavik, Sunday Classics series), Cherry Blossom for two guitars (Malmö, Sweden), and the suite A Peaceful Dream for voices, guitar, and drums (ODEON, Odense). His composition AMEN concludes the album STABAT MATER.

Rista studied with Carmelo Lacertosa, Christian Saggese, Davide Ficco, and Oscar Ghiglia at the Chigiana Academy. He pursued postgraduate studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and later completed a second Master’s degree at the Malmö Music Academy (Lund University) under Göran Söllscher and David Hansson.

In 2024, he received a scholarship from De Sono and from the Swedish Royal Academy of Music (Kungl. Musikaliska Akademien).

Francesco is an endorser of Aquila Corde Armoniche.