Immersive music performance: insights from practice and audience experience

This study investigates how spatial characteristics in live music performance can be designed and implemented to enhance immersivity. Through a series of experimental performance scenarios, it explores how variations in delivery formats can impact audience perception of immersion. The aim is to identify strategies that improve audience immersion in live music performance through three distinct projects, each employing different approaches to musical material, delivery formats and spatialisation, tailored to specific performance environments. As the audience is central to a performance's perceived success, participant responses gathered through structured questionnaires provided critical insight into the effectiveness of the immersive strategies employed. The outcomes aim to provide practical implications for creators seeking to design innovative and unique immersive performance environments. The findings reveal that proximity and envelopment substantially enhance a sense of immersion but can often compromise sound balance and visibility without careful spatial planning. The research demonstrates that audience engagement is not solely dependent on direct communication or interactivity, but can emerge from an innovative use of space, visible musical actions, spatialisation techniques, and accessible musical material.