Bio | Stefano Giust

Stefano Giust is an Italian improviser musician, drummer, composer and factotum of the record label Setola di Maiale. His work is focused on the broad spectrum of improvised and experimental music. He considers the practice of improvisation as an important aesthetic form in contemporary music and also an open process compatible with any idiom and musical situation. From about forty years he works on these subjects into an acoustic, electric and electronic settings as well as in performative acts. He collaborates with musicians, composers, filmmakers, choreographers, dancers, acrobats, actors, poets and visual artists.

As a drummer, his playing is constantly evolving and focuses on rhythmic pulse and its destructuration, embracing a delicate and powerful angularity, asymmetrical rhythms, polyrhythms, noise, silence, timbric intensity, flexible time, extended techniques. He avoids most clichés, nevertheless he manages to transmit a pulsation that doesn’t derive from a single beat, but by assembling several rhythmic such as “micro events”. In relating with the other musicians of an ensemble, he certainly works on the interplay, but he maintains a clear independence and the music, as a whole, develops itself more freely on different levels. In other words, his contribution in an ensemble is expressed through a polyphonic counterpoint, rather than with mere rhythmic accompaniment. As contrabassist Peter Jacquemyn wrote, “Stefano has a very personal approach on percussion, he hardly gives tempo, it’s all about suggest rhythm, and he has an extraordinary melodic development in his music, exceptional for percussionists. His playing is abstract and melodic, that fact leads a very interesting friction, it made music more adventurous, less predictable.” The description of Gianpaolo Salbego – for forty years first percussionist of the Orchestra Del Teatro Comunale Di Bologna, composer, musicologist, maestro at the conservatory of Bologna and director of the contemporary music’s ensemble Octandre – is stimulating: “Intelligence and refinement of his percussion blend beautifully into the context, sobriety and the search into sound is a percussionist’s index, it seems to me difficult to label him drummer, I think he fits very well the term I normally use in these cases, ‘pure percussionist’, the one capable of investigating the percussive sound.” The only drums workshop he has attended, with enthusiasm, was leaded by Han Bennink in Udine (1994). Anyway, his exploration isn’t really as eclectic as it may seem by looking at the discography, rather adheres to a distinctive aesthetic that is expressed and winds in different forms of so-called avant-garde music, such as free improvisation, free jazz, electronic music, contemporary classical music, experimental rock, electroacoustic, acousmatic music and minimal techno.

To date he has released more than one hundred and twenty albums with his solo and co-leading projects, along with a few others on which he figures as a collaborator.

He was born on March 22nd, 1968 in Unterseen (Interlaken, Switzerland) from Italian parents and raised in Pordenone, Italy, from the age of seven. From 2012 to 2017 he moved to Bologna, currently he has returned to Pordenone. Self-taught musician, he has started recording experimental music when he was fourteen, under the name Opera (1982-1989) with works published in that years by Old Europa Cafe. In the mid-80s, he was into a scene that was becoming what we now know as Cassette Culture or Tape Network. Since then, his approach remained uncompromising, embracing a DIY attitude.

The first group in which he plays drums, was a no-wave band named Red Glass Hearts (1986-87), but it was with Le Bambine (1987-95) which he has grown, playing hundreds of concerts and releasing four albums. When the group broke up, from their ashes borns Orbitale Trio (1995-1998), a tiny ensemble devoted to free improvisation, free jazz and experimentation. It’s starting from this trio – and partly from the solo album Ripercuotere (1994) – that his drumming began to focusing on rhythm (and sound) as a continuous and variable flow, no longer thought in terms of meter and measure.

Trough the years he has given concerts in Italy, England, Scotland, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Belgium, Poland, Croatia, Brasil and Vietnam.

He has played with Evan Parker, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Lori Freedman, Gianni Gebbia, Thollem McDonas, Gino Robair, Guido Mazzon, Tobias Delius, Tristan Honsinger, Giuseppe Giuliano, Philip Corner, Massimo Pupillo, Herb Robertson, Giovanni Maier, Steve Beresford, Catherine Jauniaux, Walter Prati, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Paul Rogers, Gabriele Mitelli, Hélène Labarrière, Keiko Higuchi, Alessandro Bosetti, Clayton Thomas, Patrizia Oliva, Burkhard Beins, Giorgio Pacorig, Steve Buchanan, Vincenzo Vasi, Luc Ex, Roy Paci, Edoardo Marraffa, Lotte Anker, Peter Jacquemyn, Mick Beck, Kris Wanders, Silvia Bolognesi, Ken Hyder, Gianni Mimmo, Liz Allbee, Massimo De Mattia, Wolfgang Reisinger, Eugenio Sanna, Marco Eneidi, Massimo Falascone, Martin Mayes, Cristiano Calcagnile, Chris Heenan, Edoardo Ricci, Carlo Actis Dato, Stéphane Rives, Luca Miti, Nils Gerold, Luigi Lullo Mosso, Bob Marsh, Francesco Guerri, Alessandra Novaga, Roberto Zorzi, Maresuke Okamoto, Gianni Lenoci, Manuela Galizia, Corrado Rojac, Johnny Lapio, Gabriel Bechini, Federico Scalas, Jonas Kocher, Luciano Caruso, IoIoI, Marcello Magliocchi, Filippo Monico, Kanoko Nishi, Bart Maris, Nicola Guazzaloca, Domenico Caliri, John Hughes, Claudio Lodati, Vittorino Curci, Roberto Ottaviano, Andy Diagram, Roberto Bellatalla, Errico De Fabritiis, Stefano Cogolo, Xabier Iriondo, Jacopo Andreini, Pierpaolo Capovilla, Bruno Romani, Hannes Krebs, Tiziana Lo Conte, Guy Strale, Stefano Bartolini, Martin Wichtel, Valeria Merlini aka JD Zazie, Chris Iemulo, Marino José Malagnino, Marco Tabellini, Kilian Schrader, Ivan Pilat, João Pais Filipe, Luca Cartolari, Alessandro Cartolari, Karen O’Brien, Andrej Bako, Andrea Biondello, André Coelho, Fabio Sfregola, Mario Rechtern, Linda Sharrock, Stefan Krist, Sergio Fedele, Vito Maria Laforgia, Giuseppe Mariani, Jeppa K Hall, Vincenzo Ramaglia, Claudio Comandini, Eric Arn, Michele Brieda, Daniele Pagliero, Renato Ciunfrini, Shawn Clocchiatti-Oakey, Cristiano Luciani, Marco Maurizi, Enrico Malatesta, Sakis Papadimitriou, Igor Alban Chevalier, Michel Le Maigne, Giorgio Simbola, Daniele Giannotta, Emmanuel Louis, Ak2deru, Luca Bernard, Filippo Giuffrè, Flavio Zanuttini, Dario Fariello, Giorgia Sylleou, Frantz Loriot, Andrea Laino, Tuia Cherici, Maurizio Suppo, Gareth Mitchell, Massimo Ceccarelli, Norontako Bagus Kentus, Alessandro Boscolo, Victor L.C. Young, Federico De Pizzol, Marco Crestani, Bratko Bibič, Claudia Cancellotti, Teho Teardo, Fulvia De Colle, Marco Carcasi, Pat Riské, Lorenzo Commisso, Paul Snowdon, Walter Belloni, Matthias Boss, Patrizio Pica aka Ben Presto, Bartolomeo Sailer aka Wang Inc., Luca Vortex, Sergio Cacherano Staropoli, Mike Goyvaerts, Margarida Guia, Nicole Legros, Davide Lorenzon, Alessandro Fiorin Damiani, Alberto Collodel, Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg, Lorenzo Gabriele, Francesco Rosati, Jonny Drury, Andrea Gulli, Paolo Pascolo, Manfred Riolsperger, Lucio Corenzi, Gianluca Varone, Deborah Walker, Silvia Tarozzi, John Cuny, Massimo Miola, Rinus Van Alebeek, Mikaele Pellegrino, Mat Pogo, Fred Casadei, Herbert Lacina, Stefano Ferrian, Luca Pissavini, Alexandre Soares, Gustavo Costa, Henrique Fernandes, Beppe Scardino, Hervé Boghossian, Jeff Gburek, Edi Leo, Pino Montecalvo, Silvia Kastel, Ninni Morgia, Alessandro Calbucci, Noel Taylor, Diego Cofone aka Dicofone, Andrea Reali, Paed Conca, Luca Serrapiglio, Carlo Garof, Gian Luigi Diana, Liviano Mos, Roberto Lugli, Angelo Contini, Pat Moonchy, Bassirou Diakhate, Cristina Lodolo, Rudi Fischerlehner, Elisabetta Lanfredini, Francesco Calandrino, Marco Calandrino, Piero la Rocca, Dario De Filippo, Florinda Pecoraro, Gandolfo Pagano, Illi Adato, Camillo Amalfi, Roberto Fega, Paolo Sanna, Elia Casu, Agnes Szelag, Norman Teale aka The Norman Conquest, Paolo Falascone, Mario Arcari, Roberto Del Piano, Alessandra Bossa, Erika Sofia Sollo, Michele Anelli, Rik van Iersel, Raoul van der Weide, Siem Nozza, Edward Capel, Victor Suy Bio, Timo van Luijk, Marco Cristofolini, Julian Plaickner, Karolina Ossowska, Josh Kopeček, Thanh Thuy, Tra My, Pham Thi Hue, Nguyen Xuan Son aka Sonx, Kim Ngoc, Jakob Riis, Terje Thiwång, Henrik Frisk, Stefan Östersjö, Paolo Monti, Federico Gerini, Nicola Cattaneo, Franco Cortellessa, Giorgio Muresu, Alberto Mandarini, Emanuele Parrini, Paki Zennaro, Kole Laca, Francesco Lobina, Alberto N. A. Turra, Guglielmo Pagnozzi, Fabio Zigante aka Miss Xox, Silvia Cignoli, Matteo a Marca, Elisa Ulian, Christina Ruf, Armando Battiston, Dine Doneff aka Kostas Theodorou, Sylvia Bruckner, Andrea Grossi, Luca Calabrese, Alberto Tacchini, Fabio Volpi, Rosarita Crisafi, Fabio Mina, Ferdinando Faraò, Eloisa Manera, Riccardo Luppi, Claudio Lugo, Pozsár Máté, Peter Ajtai, Miklós Szilveszter, Emil Gross, Boris Janje, Jošt Drašler, Tomaž Grom, Markus Krispel, Marta Sacchi, Dimitris Havellas, Niki Dolp, Jakob Gnigler, Simon Frick, Tomasz Leś, Erich Schachtner, Kézdy Luca, Chiao-Hua Chang, Yoko Miura, Riccardo Marogna, Gabriele Cancelli, Kei Yoshida, Alessandra Laganà, Tommaso Marte, Cene Resnik, Angelo Russo, Albert Márkos, Heather Saumer, Ewald Oberleitner, Bea Labikova, Dominik Gawara, MaryClare Brzytwa, Carlo Mascolo, Francesco Partipilo, Alessandro Seravalle, Alberto Novello, Daniele Onori, Henry Marić, Dóra Attila, Andrea Begnini, Luigi Vitale, Cristian Lombardi, François Wong, Andrea Massaria, Andrea Cernecca, Alípio Carvalho Neto, Simone Serafini, Gregor Vidic, Francesco Costa, Mirko Cisilino, Annalisa Ponton, Chiara De Santi, Martin Debřička, Tobia Bondesan, Michele Bondesan, Tin Džaferović, Jan Pudlák, Nefeli Stamatogianopoulou, Nikola Vukovic, Damir Kafka, Karl Wilhelm Krbavac, Radim Hanousek, Martin Opršál, Michal Wróblewski, María ‘Mange’ Valencia, Domenico Saccente.

With other musicians he gave life to many groups: Camusi, Mahakaruna Quartet (IT/SLO), NoNoNo Percussion Ensemble (IT/USA), Klang!, Politácito, (IT/COL), Neu Musik Projekt, Jars (IT/SLO/HR), Ombak Trio (IT/SLO), Transition (IT/DE), Nervidi (IT/PL), Magimc (IT/USA), Aghe Clope, Haiku, One Lip 5, The Objective Chance (IT/BRA), Crash Trio, The Five Roosters (IT/UK), TAI No-Orchestra, Gamra (IT/CH), Papiers Collés, Memento Mari (IT/BE), Carver, NotG, Ògun, Gebbia/Giust/Iriondo, L’Amorth Duo, Squame, Skinstrings, Suonimmagine, Kongrosian Trio, Ipersensity, Babelis Project (IT/PL), Setoladimaiale Unit (IT/PL/UK), Gbur (IT/PL), Margine, Orbitale Trio, Kalte Haut Brennendes Fleisch, Le Bambine, Red Glass Hearts, Crime’o’Nautix, Opera.

He has recorded and/or performed live with Giuseppe Giuliano’s ImprovvisoFantasia, Collectif Inaudible (BE), Blistrap (UK), Pierpaolo Capovilla (Obtorto Collo Tour 2014, Interiezioni 2016), Noma, Spiritual Unity, Rediffusion (UK), Roy Paci’s Furious Alchemy Collective (IT/NL), Trio Solzenicyn, DIN-Collective (UK), Strähne Trio (DE), Lendormin, Bruno Romani Trio, Phil Minton’s Feral Choir (UK/IT), Gravida (IT/USA), Maisie, Vonneumann, Retrograde Collective (PL/USA/FR/IT), Larsen Lombriki, Kongrosian Quartet, Sektor 304 (PT), Vincenzo Ramaglia’s Chimera, Gruppo Oreste, Dokuro (USA), Being Together/Hanoi New Music Festival Ensemble (VN/IT/SE/DK/DE), Bologna Improvisers Orchestra, Collettivo di Resistenza Culturale, Ciano Blu Machine, Star Pillow, Rik van Iersel’s Senga Etna (NL/BE/IT), Ridmo Orchester (AT/DE/SLO/IT/HU/CZ).

During the years, he has shared stages and playbills with many musicians, and some of them have completely different musical directions, such as Anthony Braxton, Alvin Curren, Primus, Thurston Moore, John Russell, Fugazi, SISU Percussion Ensemble, Morton Subotnick, Mats Gustafsson, Faust, Roberto Fabbriciani, Thomas Brinkmann, Carlos Giffoni, Terry Day, Negazione, John Edwards, Raphael Gualazzi, Sajncho Namčylak, Robert Lowe, D.O.A., Zlatko Kaučič, Manuel Mota, Kerosene, Chris Corsano, Big Band RTV Slovenija, Fuzztones, John Wiese, Silverfish, Ab Baars, Marta sui Tubi, Fishbones, Wolf Eyes, Verbal Assoult, Jozef van Wissem, Seers, Marphy’s Low, Michael Edwards, John Butcher, Karlheinz Essl, Zu, Flashtones, Freak Antoni, Giorgio Nottoli, Joe McPhee, GX Jupitter-Larsen and Gavin Bryars.

He has played at many international festivals, including Hanoi New Music Festival (Vietnam), Angelica Festival Internazionale di Musica (Bologna ’18, ’20), Angelica Concert Season (Bologna), Mostra SESC de Artes (São Paulo, Brazil), Jazz Cerkno (Slovenia), MIBnight Jazz Festival (Bremen, Germany), BRDA Contemporary Music Festival (Smartno, Slovenia), Saturnalia Festival ’17 (Milano), Defonija (Ljubljana), Interpenetration Festival (Graz ’10, ’13), Jazz Is Dead Festival (Torino), Festival Trieste Prima / Incontri Internazionali con la Musica Contemporanea (Trieste), Chilli Jazz Festival (Heiligenkreuz im Lafnitztal, Austria ’14, ’15, ’16, ’22), ImproCON (Kumrovec, Croazia), Axes Beuk Festival (Eindhoven), TAI Fest #2, #3 (Milano ’15, ’16), Drittes Kleines Festival Der Anderen Art (Bern), Italian Jazz Rebels (Bologna), Festival Sons Libérés (Bruxelles), Possible Setting Amirani Festival (Milano), Retrograde In The Dromosphere Festival (Poznań‎, Poland), Tarcento Jazz Festival (Udine), Fonomanie (Bari), Erev Laila (Trieste), Pre Sonar Event (London), Corde Pizzicate (Torino), Scatole Sonore (Roma ’07, ’08, ’09), Mopomoso (London), Note Non Note / Nuove Partiture e Improvvisazione (Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma), Arezzo Wave, Venetian Industries Festival (Venezia), Shinafest (Idrija, Slovenia), Scrusci Festival (Alcamo, Trapani), Asti Musica 2014, Villa Ada – Roma incontra il Mondo (Roma), Sajeta Festival (Tolmin, Slovenia), oFFFest (Milano), TagoFest (Marina di Massa), Aeson Festival (Udine ’18, ’20); artistic contexts as the 48th Venice Biennale (’99), B.I.G. Biennale Internazionale Arte Giovane (Torino), Hic Et Nunc (Udine ’02, ’03, ’04), Azioni Inclementi (Vicenza), Arte Open / Itinerari Possibili (Gorizia ’17, ’18), Orchestrazione #26 (Portogruaro); art galleries as Fondazione Mudima (Milano), Neon Campobase (Bologna), Studio Espositivo Cortelazzo (Este, Padova), Galleria Regionale d’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Spazzapan (Gradisca d’Isonzo), Italo Chiodi Studio (Bergamo), Villa Manin (Udine ’02, ’05, ’06, ’14), Illuseum (Amsterdam), Galleria Contemporaneo (Venezia), SDK Art Gallery (Tolmin, Slovenia), Museolaboratorio (Città Sant’Angelo, Pescara), Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea di Monfalcone (Gorizia); theaters as Hanoi Youth Theater (Vietnam), Teatro Santana (São Paulo, Brazil), Teatro Miela (Trieste ’90, ’04), Passos Manuel (Porto), Teatro Abeliano (Bari), Petit Théâtre Mercelis (Bruxelles), Teatro Verdi (Piacenza), Teatro San Leonardo (Bologna), Spazio Sì (Bologna), Teatro Le Serre (Grugliasco, Torino), Teatro Gustavo Modena (Genova), Sala Piatti (Bergamo Alta), Educatorio della Provvidenza (Torino), Teatro Verdi (Pordenone), Teatro De Micheli (Ferrara), ex Teatro delle Marionette (Milano), Teatro Herberia (Rubiera), Actis (Trieste); clubs as Vortex (London), Area Sismica (Forlì ’11, ’12, ’18), Klub Gromka, Metelkova (Ljubljana), Jazz Club Ferrara, Postgarage (Graz), Klub Gustaf-Pekarna (Maribor), Wendel (Berlin), Spazio Aereo / Argo16 (Marghera), Fluc (Wien), Knulp (Trieste), The Klinker (London ’07, ’08), Masada (Milano), Celeste – Neu New York/Vienna Institute Of Improvised Music (Wien), Orion (Roma), TPO (Bologna), Magnolia (Milano), La Centrale (Bordeaux), Druso Circus (Bergamo), Bloom (Milano), Sowieso (Berlin), Hiroshima Mon Amour (Torino), Fuori Orario (Reggio Emilia), Viper Theatre (Firenze), Sounds Food (Cuneo), Blutopia (Roma), Hybrida (Udine), Dobialab (Gorizia), Konzertkeller Industrie (Luzern); cultural centers as Unione Culturale Franco Antonicelli (Torino), ZDB / Galeria Zé Dos Bois (Lisboa), Macao / Center for Art, Culture and Research (Milano ’17, ’18), Buro-Beukorkest / TAC-Temporary Art Centre (Eindhoven), Auditorium Museo Revoltella (Trieste), Sonoscopia (Porto), Invisible Show (Bergamo ’16, ’18), DomDom-The Hub For Experimental Music & Art (Zone 9, Hanoi, Vietnam), Visionario (Udine ’11, ’18), Reitschule (Bern), Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma, KUD France Prešeren (Ljubljana), Rialtosantambrogio (Roma), The Foundry (London), Amann Studio (Wien), Centro Stabile di Cultura (Vicenza), Staalplaat (Berlin), C.S. Leoncavallo (Milano), Rivolta (Marghera), Italijanski inštitut za kulturo v Sloveniji (Ljubljana), Aldo Dice 26×1 (Milano), Morion (Venezia), Gängeviertel (Hamburg), Cinemazero (Pordenone), The Noise Upstairs (Manchester) WIM (Zürich); ancient or historical sites as St. Zeno Abbey (Pisa), Confraternita dei Battuti (Vicoforte), Chiesa Madre Castello Carafa (Roccella Jonica), Museo Sartorio (Trieste), Villa Capriglio (Torino), ruins of the church of Annunziata (Alcamo, Trapani), Idrija Mercury Mine – Unesco 2012 (Slovenia), Fortezza di Vinadio (Cuneo), Sala Fontaniniana / Civica Biblioteca Guarneriana (San Daniele Del Friuli), Sala Santa Maria (Acqui Terme), Piazza Libertà (Campi Salentina), Castello di Moncalieri / Giardino delle Rose (Moncalieri); Universities as Academy Of Fine Arts of Bologna, DAMS – Discipline of Arts Music and Spectacle of Turin, IUAV – University of Architecture (Venezia), IED – Istituto Europeo di Design (Milano); audio-video/multidisciplinary festivals as Danae Festival (Milano), Lago Film Fest (Revine Lago), Torture Garden (Toppo Florio’s park, Buttrio), Festival Teatro e Letteratura (Bardonecchia), Piccolo Festival di Animazione (Pordenone, Udine); live performance at radio broadcasters as Radio Kairos (Bologna), Radio Onde Furlane (Udine), Resonance 104.4FM (London Musicians’ Collective, London ’05, ’09).

As composer of acousmatic, electronic and creative music, some of his works have been used by experimental film directors such as Giovanni Andreotta – for the full soundtrack of the short film Bezahlen, which deserves a special mention by Fano International Film Festival in 1999 – and Fabrizio Personeni. He participates to the soundtrack of Noma, an autobiographical documentary film by Alessandra Laganà and Tommaso Marletta, under the direction of Andrès Arce Maldonado. The film tells of Alessandra’s battle against cancer, aided by art and music. In the film appears, among others, an interview with Giust. The movie wins the recognition award for the humanitarian value of the work at the Accolade Global Film Competition 2017 (California, USA). Some electronic tracks taken from the album Linked and from the two CDs of the Ipersensity duo, were used in 2009 for an unnamed collective work of experimental theater and dance, performed at the Teatro Nacional de El Salvador (San Salvador). An excerpt from a concert recorded in Turin with Setoladimaiale Unit and Evan Parker was used in 2023 for a documentary on the artist Yves Zurstrassen, for Belgian television.

He has performed live soundtracks for movies by Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Léger, Man Ray, Stan Brakhage, Ciprì e Maresco, Mario Bava, Alan Crosland, Enea Garrapa, Derek Jarman; he has performed or composed electroacoustic music for installation art by Gorazd Krnc, Toni Mestrovic, Alessandro Amaducci, Sammlerfamilie/Filoart, Tullio De Gennaro, Renzo Cevro-Vukovic, Alan De Cecco aka Soda, Lorenzo Commisso, Iris Ollschewski and Anemona Crisan. Again as a drummer he has played for video art in real time by Roberto Masotti, Igor Imhoff, Gianluca Lo Presti, Tuia Cherici (Manucinema); for action paintings by Arianna Ellero, Stefano Giorgi, Giulio Masieri; for digital action painting by Cosimo Miorelli and Giulia Spanghero; with light performances by Hybrida Light Show, Max Klein, Bianca Nicolescu, VJ Hellstone, Francesco Scarel aka Wandalumen and others. He has musically accompanied poets such as Federico Tavan, Asana Ležečki aka Vid Jeraj, Zarko Jovanovski, Ždral De Fis, Siniša Matasović, Acg Vianen, Jan David Zimmermann and Mladen Savić. As a soloist, he has played live on the short movie Scratching Film/Esperimento 01, as part of AnimAzione-Rassegna d’Animazione d’Autore, curated by Paola Bristot for VivaComix, as well as the solo performances for the artistic scores by Fulvia Spizzo, entitled Pagine di Musica Iterativa. Participation on ToBe Continued (11th and 12th edition for the World TB Day, organized by Stazione di Topolò, Udine 2020, 2021), AD’A-Area D’Azione (Rocca Sforzesca, Imola), Sguardi Sonori 2008 – Festival of Media and Time Based Art (CAM Casoria Contemporary Art Museum, Napoli), Sguardi Sonori 2014 – Stars (Museo Pietro Canonica, Villa Borghese, Roma). The multimedia project Papiers Collés has been rewarded in 2005 by Italian Ministry of Instruction – Department of Arts and Research.

In the field of theatre music, in 2016 he has collaborated with BlucinQue Company based in Turin, for which he was initially invited at the Cascade of Bourg St Andéol in France, as tutor for the company, on the life and work of John Cage, concerning the theatrical work entitled We 273 by Caterina Mochi Sismondi, and dedicated to Cage. In 2017 and 2018, the collaboration with BlucinQue Company is for the theatre music of the work Il Volo/La Vertigine di Giulietta, inspired by the famous tragedy by William Shakespeare; original music composed and freely performed along with Patrizia Oliva, with adaptations and samplings from the music of Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet of 1935; direction and choreography by Caterina Mochi Sismondi; dancers, actors and acrobats: Jonnathan Angel Rodriguez, Elisa Mutto, Rio Ballerani, Andrea Paola Martínez, Marta Rizzi, Francesca Netto, Lukas Vaca Medina, Federico Ceragioli and Camilo Jimenez.

In 2018 he collaborates with Transmedia Arti Visive for “Acqua per Essere”, performance for dance, video, voice, electronics and percussion, directed by Franco Milani and Nicoletta Leghissa. Choreography by The Lab Collettivo Contemporaneo; dancers and performers: Alice Parovel, Serena Millo, Giorgia Fioretto, Vanessa Gregorin, Benedetta Agostinis, Giada Buiatti; original music composed and freely performed by Stefano Giust and Patrizia Oliva; video and photography by Franco Milani and Nicoletta Leghissa.

At the invitation of the artistic director Massimo Simonini, since 2016 he is among the curators in Bologna of the prestigious Angelica – International Music Festival, for which he has organized concerts of ensembles and soloists, including Evan Parker, Lawrence Casserley, Yoko Miura, Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg, Guido Mazzon, Marta Sacchi, Martin Mayes, Marco Colonna, Patrizia Oliva, Alberto Novello, Michele Anelli, IoIoI, Massimo De Mattia, Giorgio Pacorig, Giovanni Maier, Sergio Fedele, Davide Rinella, Jim Denley, Éric Normand, Riccardo La Foresta, Riccardo Marogna, Cristiano Calcagnile, Gino Robair, Giuseppe Giuliano and Thollem McDonas.

Again as a curator, under the invitation of promoter Alessandra Cussini, in 2016 he has directed in Bologna a serie of concerts at Senza Nome, the first cultural coffee bar managed by deaf mute in Italy. Since 2022, together with Patrizia Oliva, he has organized Sunday matinée in a historic villa in Pordenone, under the name of Concerti di Musica di Ricerca.

The Angelica Festival Internazionale di Musica hosted the 25th anniversary of Setola di Maiale, commissioning a sold out concert for the Setoladimaiale Unit on 16 May 2018, an ensemble led by Giust with Marco Colonna, Martin Mayes, Alberto Novello, Patrizia Oliva, Giorgio Pacorig and Michele Anelli, for the occasion together with the British saxophonist Evan Parker, essential musician of free improvisation, with an introduction of gongs played by the American composer – one of the fathers of the Fluxus movement – Philip Corner and his wife, choreographer, dancer and musician Phoebe Neville. The full concert, over seventy minutes of music, is available on CD. Subsequently, with slightly different formations, the Unit played two more concerts together with Parker (Jazz Is Dead Festival in Turin, broadcast in full by Battiti on Radio Rai Tre, and ImprovviJazziamo in Pordenone). A curiosity: the name Setoladimaiale Unit was used for the first time in 1999, on the occasion of the 48th Venice Biennale, for a couple of concerts with different versions of the Unit, at the Chiostro dei Tolentini and in the Italian Pavilion (Giardini).

On 18 November 2023 he was part of the ImprovvisoFantasia ensemble led by the pianist and composer Giuseppe Giuliano – together with Giancarlo Schiaffini, Manuela Galizia, Corrado Rojac, Johnny Lapio, Gabriel Bechini, Federico Scalas and Giuliano himself – with whom he performed the world premiere of “Grandi Numeri” by Sylvano Bussotti (among his latest pieces, written in 2010, which also includes the drum kit) as part of the festival Trieste Prima / Incontri Internazionali con la Musica Contemporanea, at the Auditorium of the Revoltella Museum in Trieste.

He founded and still manages Setola di Maiale, a record label dedicated to creative and experimental music since 1993, which has publishes his work as well as the work of countless international musicians, improvisers and composers: so far it has produced almost 500 titles involving around 1000 musicians and groups from all over the world. Connected to the label he has organized three festivals: Avanguardia Clandestina and Alterazioni Sonore, both in 1997 and Festival Setolare 2003 for the tenth anniversary. Such as the invitation for the twenty five years anniversary at Angelica 2018, for the twentieth anniversary of 2013 he has been invited to the Axes Beuk Festival in Eindhoven (Netherlands), at the TAC-Temporary Art Center, due to the invitation of the artist and musician Rik van Iersel, where he played and exhibited the complete catalog of the label.

His networking practice and his musical aesthetics have been cited and analyzed in some degree theses, in particular in 2003, in the thesis cum laude of Ivan Dal Cin, entitled “L’Arte Partecipante”, University of Udine, Italy.

A number of radio stations broadcast his work, including Rai Radio Tre (Battiti and Radio3 Suite), Rai Tre Tv, Radio Televizija Slovenija, Taran’s Free Jazz Hour (Europe), Wave Farm’s WGXC 90.7FM (New York), Radio Popolare (Milan), Radio-UAT (Mexico), Triple R Radio (Australia), KFJC (San Francisco), Radio Bremen (Germany), Sprawl Zone Radio (Greece) and Radio-Z 95.8FM (Germany). He was interviewed on air by Radio Resonance 104.4FM (London ’05, ’09), Radio Onde Furlane (Udine), Radio Base 81 (Treviso), Radio Kairos (Bologna), Novaradio Città Futura (Florence), Radio Onda d’Urto (Brescia), 2SER/Curved Radio (Australia), Radio Roccella (Reggio Calabria) and Radio Città Fujiko (Bologna).

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