Elias Riipinen — Violinist, Composer, Musician, Producer

About

Elias Riipinen (Elia Lombardini) is a Finnish-Italian composer, producer, and violinist based in Helsinki.

An integral part of the Finnish art scene, Lombardini is renowned as both a performer and creator. His work is featured in prestigious art institutions across Finland, spanning the avant-garde arts sector as well as major commercial productions. Elia is best known for his awe-inspiring live sets, which have led him to open for artists like Mary Lattimore, Ben Frost, and Mono, and have secured him international performances in Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Germany, among others.

This year, Elia is presenting new work — both live and recorded — building on the success of his well-received debut album, In Death and the Hunger for a Thousand Lives. Entirely written, arranged, performed, and produced by Lombardini, the debut album is a unique mix of classical music, minimalism, and maximalism, driven by heavy electronic overtones.

Elia's new live set premiered at the Turku Music Festival in August 2026. Based around a custom violin-and-electronics system, the concert creates a dynamic dialogue between the stage and the physical space of the performance. Designed primarily for churches with an organ balcony, the setup uses a dual PA system: one at the altar and one on the balcony. By playing with antiphonal music, suspending organ-like notes in the air, and manipulating the venue's natural reverb, the set commands the full acoustical potential of the space.

Between late 2026 and early 2027, Lombardini will release his new EP, Sorrow Soil, the first in a series of releases scheduled for the coming year.

Elia Lombardini#

Solo Alias for music

2022– ongoing

Elia Lombardini is a Violinist/Composer based in Helsinki/Finland. Best known for his awe-inspiring live sets using violin and electronics, Elia’s music imagines what loud violin music sounds like and the role of the PA as a sacral ritual device.

Antifonia: Turnsong#

Live set – Composition

2026

Dale Church, Luster, Norway, 2024. Photo: Jade Kallio

The setup

Pitched Echos, a clip from the set

A live set for violin, electronics and two PA systems, written for churches with an organ balcony. Based on performances in Greifswald Dom and Turku Music Festival, the piece premieres in Helsinki at the House of Dance in December 2026.

Based around a custom violin-and-electronics system, the concert creates a dynamic dialogue
between the stage and the physical space of the
performance. Designed primarily for churches with an organ
balcony, the setup uses a dual PA system: one at the altar
and one on the balcony. By playing with antiphonal music,
suspending organ-like notes in the air, and manipulating the
venue's natural reverb, the set commands the full acoustical
potential of the space.

Våldets Historia – Lilla Teatern (dir. Jakob Höglund)#

Composition for theater

2025–2026

Våldets Historia – Lilla Teatern (dir. Jakob Höglund)

Music for Jakob Höglund’s staging of Édouard Louis’s ‘En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule’ and ‘Histoire de la violence’, premiered at Lilla Teatern in November 2025.

lillateatern.fi/fi/repertoar/valdets-historia-fi

Glass Eyes (cor. Mikko Niemistö)#

Contemporary Dance – Composition

2025

Composition, sound design and live violin for Mikko Niemistö’s stage work, made with Marika Peura and premiered at Zodiak in May 2025. The piece sets an anatomical theatre against a ritual site.

zodiak.fi/en/programme/glass-eyes

Ocean BLVD (Dir – Jade Kallio)#

Video – Composition

2024

Score for Jade Kallio’s 17-minute 4K video.

In reference to a Lana Del Rey song, Ocean Blvd poetically explores the politics of architecture, safe spaces, and visibility from a trans person’s perspective. The work blends fictional and non-fictional narratives to outline the boundaries of reality; Sometimes our dreams or imagined worlds are more real than the world around us.

jadekallio.com/jade-kallio-ocean-blvd

Bodecast Della Verita#

Installation – electronics and sound

2023

An interactive installation by Elina Nissinen and Max Hannus at Outo Olo, Helsinki — a hand-operated emotion generator after the Roman Bocca della Verità. Contributed the electronics, mechanics and sound.

outo.space/elina-nissinen-max-hannus