Ricardo Arias

Ricardo Arias was born in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1965. He has lived in Barcelona, The Hague, and currently resides in New York City. He studied composition and electroacoustic music with Chilean composer Gabriel Brncic at the Phonos Foundation in Barcelona and flute with Hiroshi Kobayashi and Joan Bofill, also in Barcelona. During 1995-1996 Arias studied computer music at the Institute of Sonology in ThaHague. He holds a BA in Anthropology from Hunter College in New York City. Most of Arias' music is improvised and made in collaboration with other musicians. Apart from occasionally playing the flute, he uses nconventional instruments and found objects as sound sources. He has performed with a shifting array of small found objects, amplified with piezo-electric transducers. Since 1992 he has focused almost exclusively on the balloon kit, a number of rubber balloons attached to a suitable structure and played with the hands and a set of accessories, including various kinds of sponges, pieces of Styrofoam, rubber bands, etc.. Arias has been artist in residence at Harvestworks (New York City, 1999) and at Engine 27 (New York City, 2003) and was a fellow at the Civitella Ranieri Center (Umbria, Italy, 2004). Arias has published essays in Experimental Musical Instruments (Vol. 13, #2, 1997), and Leonardo Music Journal (Vol. 8, 1998 and Vol. 12, 2001).