Italian guitarist and composer Francesco Rista is based in Iceland, creating music that blends diverse styles and pushes the boundaries of modern crossover sound. His passion for the baroque repertoire inspired an original arrangement of Bach’s Second Partita for Violin, which led up to his second album, MAGNIFICAT.

As a performer Rista has premiered works written for him by contemporary composers including Nick Martin, Finnur Karlsson, Kevin Swierkosz-Lenart, Marianna Filippi, and Evagoras Solias Apokidis, as well as a guitar concerto by English composer Oliver Davis. On the electric guitar, he frequently performs Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint and he is about to release his solo electric guitar album, Candy Floss.

With his ensemble ELECTRIO, Rista released the album STABAT MATER. The record received praise in international music publications such as Salt Peanuts, Psychedelic Baby, Seismograph, Fifteen Questions, and was broadcast on major radios including BBC Radio 6 and RAI Radio 3.

Rista studied with Carmelo Lacertosa, Christian Saggese, Davide Ficco, and Oscar Ghiglia at the Chigiana Academy. He earned his master’s degree and Post graduate at the Royal Danish Academy of Music under Jesper Sivebæk and Per Pållson, and completed a second Master’s degree at the Malmö Music Academy under Göran Söllscher and David Hansson.

In 2024, he won the music award from De Sono and the Swedish Royal Academy of Music (Kungl. Musikaliska Akademien). He is also an official endorser of Aquila Corde Armoniche and serves as a Knobloch strings ambassador.