International Musician Coming To Bay-3/25/2026

Austrian Electroacoustic Composer and Sound Artist Ina Thomann to Lecture and Perform in the Besse Theater April 7, 2026
Internationally recognized sound artist explores immersive composition and the relationship between listener, space, and sound.

ESCANABA, MI — International electroacoustic composer and sound artist Ina Thomann will be on the Escanaba Campus Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at 2 p.m. The performance and lecture are free and open to the public.

Electroacoustic composer and sound artist Ina Thomann emerges as a distinctive voice at the intersection of research, technology, and immersive listening. Based in Graz, Austria and trained at the University of Art in Graz, Thomann’s practice is driven by a concept-first methodology that transforms questions into deeply experiential sonic works. Combining self-programmed sound systems, field recordings, and custom-built instruments, their compositions challenge conventional formats, unfolding across extended durations that blur the boundaries between concert and sound installation. A recipient of Austria’s prestigious Staatsstipendium für Komposition in 2025, Thomann continues to gain international recognition for work that redefines how sound is perceived—not as a fleeting event, but as a space to inhabit.

ARTIST STATEMENT
My practice begins with a question, often a what if. Something read, something seen, a passing thought, and from there, a process of thinking with and through sound, of making audible what is not yet hearable. This research-driven, concept-first approach is the engine of everything I do: before a piece becomes sound, it is a question, an image, a provocation. I work from a position of openness, with self-programmed sounds and self-built instruments that offer a kind of tabula rasa, a blank page from which I can move in any direction the concept demands. Since 2023, this practice has led me deeper into the question of duration: how extended time transforms perception, how a composition can be inhabited rather than just witnessed, and how the threshold between concert and sound installation becomes a space for a different kind of listening.

This event is free and open to the public. The event is in Besse Theater, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at 2 p.m.

###