Hans Thomalla

Born in 1975 in Bonn. Hans Thomalla is a German American composer living in Chicago and Berlin. A particular focus of his work lies in music for the stage. He has written four operas, Fremd (Stuttgart Opera 2011), Kaspar Hauser (Freiburg and Augsburg Opera 2016), Dark Spring and Dark Fall (both Mannheim Opera 2020 and 2024).

Thomalla is Professor of Composition at the University of Chicago. He studied at the Frankfurt Musikhochschule and received his doctoral degree in composition from Stanford University. From 1999-2002 he was Assistant Dramaturge and Musical Advisor at the Stuttgart Opera.

He has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis, the Composer Prize of the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, the Christoph Delz Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship. During the academic year 2014/15 he was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin and in 2024/25 he will be a Villa Massimo Fellow in Rome. He has written music for numerous ensembles and soloists, including the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Münchener Philharmoniker, SWR- and SR-Radiosinfonieorchester, The Crossing, Talea, ICE, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Ensemble Recherche, Arditti Quartet, Spektral Quartet, Nicolas Hodges, Irvine Arditti, Sarah Maria Sun, and many others.

Hans Thomalla is the co-founder of the Chicago based label Sideband Records. He appears as a character in Alexander Kluge’s story collection Anyone Who Utters a Consoling Word Is a Traitor: 48 Stories for Fritz Bauer.

He has been associated with the Darmstadt Summer Course for a long time, where he has served for many years on the composition faculty.