Theremin

An Etherwave-Theremin, assembled from Robert Moog's kit: the loop antenna on the left controls the volume while the upright antenna controls the pitch
Electronic instrument
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	53 (Electrophone)
Inventor(s)	Léon Theremin
Developed	1919

	Epro theremin in middle range J. S. Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring played by Italian thereminist Fabio Pesce on a Moog Etherwave theremin.
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The theremin /ˈθɛrəmɪn/,^[1] originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone^[2] or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device in 1928. The controlling section usually consists of two metal antennas which sense the position of the player's hands and control oscillators for frequency with one hand, and amplitude (volume) with the other, so it can be played without being touched. The electric signals from the theremin are amplified and sent to a loudspeaker.

The theremin was used in movie soundtracks such as Miklós Rózsa's for Spellbound and The Lost Weekend and Bernard Herrmann's for The Day the Earth Stood Still and as the theme tune for the ITV drama Midsomer Murders. This has led to its association with a very eerie sound. Theremins are also used in concert music (especially avant-garde and 20th- and 21st-century new music) and in popular music genres such as rock. Psychedelic rock bands in particular, such as Hawkwind, have often used the theremin in their work.

History[link]

The theremin was originally the product of Russian government-sponsored research into proximity sensors. The instrument was invented by a young Russian physicist named Lev Sergeivich Termen (known in the West as Léon Theremin) in October 1920^[3] after the outbreak of the Russian civil war. After a lengthy tour of Europe, during which time he demonstrated his invention to packed houses, Theremin found his way to the United States, where he patented his invention in 1928 (US1661058). Subsequently, Theremin granted commercial production rights to RCA.

Although the RCA Thereminvox (released immediately following the Stock Market Crash of 1929), was not a commercial success, it fascinated audiences in America and abroad. Clara Rockmore, a well-known thereminist, toured to wide acclaim, performing a classical repertoire in concert halls around the United States, often sharing the bill with Paul Robeson.

During the 1930s Lucie Bigelow Rosen was also taken up with the theremin and together with her husband Walter Bigelow Rosen provided both financial and artistic support to the development and popularisation of the instrument.^[4][5]

In 1938, Theremin left the United States, though the circumstances related to his departure are in dispute. Many accounts claim he was taken from his New York City apartment by KGB agents,^[6] taken back to the Soviet Union and made to work in a sharashka laboratory prison camp at Magadan, Siberia. He reappeared 30 years later. In his 2000 biography of the inventor, Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage, Albert Glinsky suggested the Russian had fled to escape crushing personal debts, and was then caught up in Stalin's political purges. In any case, Theremin did not return to the United States until 1991.^[7]

The components of a modern Moog theremin, in kit form.

After a flurry of interest in America following the end of the Second World War, the theremin soon fell into disuse with serious musicians, mainly because newer electronic instruments were introduced that were easier to play. However, a niche interest in the theremin persisted, mostly among electronics enthusiasts and kit-building hobbyists. One of these electronics enthusiasts, Robert Moog, began building theremins in the 1950s, while he was a high-school student. Moog subsequently published a number of articles about building theremins, and sold theremin kits which were intended to be assembled by the customer. Moog credited what he learned from the experience as leading directly to his groundbreaking synthesizer, the Moog.

Since the release of the film Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey in 1994, the instrument has enjoyed a resurgence in interest and has become more widely used by contemporary musicians. Even though many theremin sounds can be approximated on many modern synthesizers, some musicians continue to appreciate the expressiveness, novelty and uniqueness of using an actual theremin. The film itself has garnered excellent reviews.^[8]

Today Moog Music, Dan Burns of soundslikeburns.com, Chuck Collins of theremaniacs.com^[9] Wavefront Technologies, Kees Enkelaar^[10] and Harrison Instruments manufacture performance-quality theremins. Theremin kit building remains popular with electronics buffs; kits are available from Moog Music, Theremaniacs, Harrison Instruments,^[11] PAiA Electronics, and Jaycar. On the other end of the scale, many low-end Theremins, some of which have only pitch control, are offered online and offline, sometimes advertised as toys.

Operating principles[link]

The theremin is rare among musical instruments in that it is played without physical contact. The musician stands in front of the instrument and moves his or her hands in the proximity of two metal antennas. The distance from one antenna determines frequency (pitch), and the distance from the other controls amplitude (volume). Most frequently, the right hand controls the pitch and the left controls the volume, although some performers reverse this arrangement. Some low-cost theremins use a conventional, knob operated volume control and have only the pitch antenna. While commonly called antennas, they are not used for receiving or broadcasting radio frequency, but act as plates in a capacitor.

The theremin uses the heterodyne principle to generate an audio signal. The instrument's pitch circuitry includes two radio frequency oscillators. One oscillator operates at a fixed frequency. The frequency of the other oscillator is controlled by the performer's distance from the pitch control antenna. The performer's hand acts as the grounded plate (the performer's body being the connection to ground) of a variable capacitor in an L-C (inductance-capacitance) circuit, which is part of the oscillator and determines its frequency. (Although the capacitance between the performer and the instrument is on the order of picofarads or even hundreds of femtofarads, the circuit design gives a useful frequency shift.) The difference between the frequencies of the two oscillators at each moment allows the creation of a difference tone in the audio frequency range, resulting in audio signals that are amplified and sent to a loudspeaker.

To control volume, the performer's other hand acts as the grounded plate of another variable capacitor. In this case, the capacitor detunes another oscillator; that detuning is processed to change the attenuation in the amplifier circuit. The distance between the performer's hand and the volume control antenna determines the capacitance, which regulates the theremin's volume.^[12]

Modern circuit designs often simplify this circuit and avoid the complexity of two heterodyne oscillators by having a single pitch oscillator, akin to the original theremin's volume circuit. This approach is usually less stable and cannot generate the low frequencies that a heterodyne oscillator can. Better designs (e.g. Moog, Theremax) may use two pairs of heterodyne oscillators, for both pitch and volume.^[13]

Performance technique[link]

Easy to learn but difficult to master, theremin performance presents two challenges: reliable control of the instrument's pitch with no guidance (no keys, valves, frets, or finger-board positions), and minimizing undesired portamento that is inherent in the instrument's continuously-variable-pitch design.^{[citation needed]}

Pitch control is challenging because, like a violin or trombone, a theremin can generate tones of any pitch throughout its entire range, including those that lie between the conventional notes. And, unlike most other instruments, the theremin has no physical feedback (other than sound), like string tension or the tactile fingerboard for strings, or air column resistance in wind instruments. The player has to rely solely on what is heard, and can only correct a pitch when its volume is not at zero. (Some professional theremin models, including Moog Etherwave Pro, have a pitch-preview feature – i.e. an additional headphone output that allows the pitch to be monitored before the volume is changed.) In the case of some string instruments, the range is divided along the strings by use of length divisions (e.g., frets on a guitar). By contrast, in the case of the theremin, the entire range of pitches is controlled by the distance of the performer's hand or fingers from the pitch antenna in mid-air. Precise control of manual position coupled with an excellent sense of pitch is required, since the oscillator tuning tends to change slowly over time, resulting in changing positions for individual pitches.^{[citation needed]}

Because some portamento is inevitable in theremin performance and because only the most experienced performers can reduce it to an inconspicuous level, the theremin repertoire of beginner/intermediate players is limited to compositions that were written to be performed legato, especially those for voice or continuously-variable-pitch instruments, and in which it is acceptable or even traditional to include some degree of portamento and glissando. Examples of works well suited for performance on the theremin include Massenet's Thaïs-Méditation^{[citation needed]} (originally for violin), Rachmaninoff's Vocalise, and Saint-Saëns' Le cygne (The Swan) (originally for violoncello).

Using rapid and exact hand movements, however, highly skilled players can reduce undesired portamento and glissando to a level enabling them to play individual notes and even achieve staccato effects. Small and rapid movements of the hands can create tremolo or vibrato effects. Although pitch is governed primarily by the distance of the performer's hand to the pitch antenna, most precision thereminists augment their playing techniques with a system called "aerial fingering," largely devised by Clara Rockmore and subsequently adapted by Léon Theremin and his protege, Lydia Kavina. It employs specific hand and finger positions to alter slightly the amount of capacitance relative to the pitch antenna to produce small changes in tone quickly and in a manner that can be reliably and quickly reproduced.

An alternate and controversial "hands on" technique is called "angling." In this method the pitch control hand is actually set on the top of the theremin, thus violating the "no touch" creed of traditionalists. The performer changes the angle of the hand and fingers to alter the pitch and repositions the hand if the pitch interval is too large for "angling." Touching the instrument damps the effect of extraneous movement on pitch. This permits the use of steady pitches without vibrato and without the performer's remaining perfectly still. An alternate to touching the instrument is to rest the elbow of the pitch arm on a tripod while standing, or the arm of a chair, or one's knees while seated in order to provide a steady reference point and pivot for the arm allowing for steady pitch play over the entire pitch range.

Equally important in theremin articulation is the use of the volume control antenna. Unlike touched instruments, where simply halting play or damping a resonator silences the instrument, the thereminist must "play the rests, as well as the notes," as Ms. Rockmore observes.^[14] Although volume technique is less developed than pitch technique, some thereminists have worked to extend it, especially Pamelia Kurstin with her "walking bass" technique^[15] and Rupert Chappelle.

Skilled players who overcome these challenges by a precisely controlled combination of movements can achieve complex and expressive performances, and thus realize a theremin's potential.

Some thereminists in the avant-garde openly rebel against developing any formalized technique, viewing it as imposing traditional limitations on an instrument that is inherently free form. These players choose to develop their own highly personalized techniques. Other avant-garde players use strict form and techniques other than aerial fingering. The question of the relative value of formal technique versus free form performances has been hotly debated among thereminists. Theremin artist Anthony Ptak uses antenna interference in live performance.

Recent versions of the theremin have been functionally updated: the Moog Ethervox, while functionally still a theremin, can also be used as a MIDI controller, and as such allows the artist to control any MIDI-compatible synthesizer with it, using the theremin's continuous pitch to drive modern synths.^[16] The Harrison Instruments Model 302^[17] Theremin uses symmetrical horizontal plates instead of a vertical rod and horizontal loop to control pitch and volume, with the volume increasing as the hand approaches the plate.

Uses[link]

Concert music[link]

Lydia Kavina, protégée of Léon Theremin and instructor to other thereminists.

Concert composers who have written for theremin include Bohuslav Martinů,^[18] Percy Grainger,^[18] Christian Wolff,^[18] Joseph Schillinger,^[18] Moritz Eggert,^[19] Iraida Yusupova,^[19] Jorge Antunes,^[18] Vladimir Komarov^[18] and Anis Fuleihan.^[20][21]

Maverick composer Percy Grainger chose to use ensembles of four or six theremins (in preference to a string quartet) for his two earliest experimental Free Music compositions (1935–37) because of the instrument's complete 'gliding' freedom of pitch.^[22][23]

Musician Jean Michel Jarre used the instrument in his concert Space of Freedom^[24] in Gdańsk, providing also a short history of Léon Theremin's life.

The five piece Spaghetti Western Orchestra use a Theremin as a replacement for Edda Dell'Orso's vocals in their interpretation of Ennio Morricone's "Once Upon a Time in the West". ^[25]

Popular music[link]

Theremins and theremin-like sounds started to be incorporated into popular music from the end of the 1940s (with a series of Samuel Hoffman/Harry Revel collaborations)^[26] and this continued, with varying popularity, to the present.^[27]

While The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" features an instrument that sounds much like a Theremin, in fact the sound is made by an instrument called the Tannerin.^[28] Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin used a variation of the theremin (minus the loop) during performances of "Whole Lotta Love" and "No Quarter" throughout the performance history of Led Zeppelin, an extended multi-instrumental solo featuring theremin and bowed guitar in 1977, as well as the soundtrack for Death Wish II released in 1982. Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones also used the instrument on the group's 1967 albums "Between the Buttons" and "Their Satanic Majesties Request".^[29]

Lothar and the Hand People, formed in Denver in 1965, used a Theremin (named "Lothar") onstage and on their LP.^[30] The Lothars are a Boston-area band formed in early 1997 whose CDs have featured as many as four theremins played at once – a first for pop music.^[31][32] Although credited with a "Thereman" [sic] on the "Mysterons" track from the album Dummy, Portishead actually used a monophonic synthesizer to achieve theremin-like effects, as confirmed by Adrian Utley, who is credited as playing the instrument; he has also created similar sounds on the songs "Half Day Closing", "Humming", "The Rip" and "Machine Gun".^[33]

Film music[link]

The Russian Dmitri Shostakovich was one of the first composers to include parts for the theremin in orchestral pieces, including a use in his score for the 1931 film Odna. While the theremin was not widely used in classical music performances, the instrument found great success in many motion pictures, notably, Spellbound, The Red House, The Lost Weekend (all three of which were written by Miklós Rózsa, the composer who pioneered the use of the instrument in Hollywood scores), The Spiral Staircase, Rocketship X-M, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Thing (From Another World), The Ten Commandments (the 1956 DeMille film). The theremin is prominent in the score for the 1956 short film "A Short Vision"^[34] which was aired on "The Ed Sullivan Show" the same year used by the Hungarian composer Matyas Seibel. More recent appearances in film scores include Monster House, Ed Wood and The Machinist^[35] (both featuring Lydia Kavina). The DVDs for Ed Wood, Bartleby and The Day the Earth Stood Still and Spellbound (Criterion Collection) include short features on the theremin. Robby Virus, the founder and theremin player of the band Project:Pimento, was featured on the soundtrack to the movie Hellboy (2004).^[36]

A theremin was not used for the soundtrack of Forbidden Planet, for which Louis and Bebe Barron built "disposable" oscillator circuits and a ring modulator to create the "electronic tonalities" for the film.^[37][38]

Los Angeles-based thereminist Charles Richard Lester is featured on the soundtrack of Monster House^[39] and has performed the US premiere of Gavriil Popov's 1932 score for Komsomol – Patron of Electrification with the L. A. Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen in 2007.^[40]

Theremin music features prominently in Lucrecia Martel's 2004 film The Holy Girl.

Television[link]

• Apart from a few episodes where an electric organ or synthesizer was used, the theremin-like sound on the original Star Trek theme was actually provided by renowned studio soprano Loulie Jean Norman until her voice was removed in later seasons.^[41] Soprano Elin Carlson sang part of the theme when CBS-Paramount TV remastered the program's title sequence in 2006.^[42]
• The British television series Midsomer Murders uses a theremin in its popular theme tune as well as frequently in underscore. The theremin part is played by Celia Sheen.^[43]
• In May 2007, the White Castle American hamburger restaurant chain introduced a television ad^[44] featuring a theremin performance by musician Jon Bernhardt of the band The Lothars.^[45]
• In October 2008, comedian, musician and theremin enthusiast Bill Bailey played a theremin during his performance of Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, which has subsequently been televised. He has previously also written an article,^[46] presented a radio show^[47] and incorporated the theremin in some of his televised comedy tours.
• In an episode of The Big Bang Theory (S4 E12: The Bus Pants Utilization), Sheldon Cooper practices on the theremin.^[48]

Books[link]

• The theremin is used as a literary device in "Constellations for Theremin" by Andrew Joron.^[49]

Video games[link]

• Composer Garry Schyman used a Theremin for the musical score of the 2005 videogame Destroy All Humans!^[50]
• Lydia Kavina's solo theremin is featured on the soundtrack for the 2006 MMORPG computer game Soul of the Ultimate Nation, composed by Howard Shore.^[51]
• The Homestar Runner character Homsar plays a theremin in the 2008 point-and-click adventure game Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People – Episode 3: Baddest of the Bands.^{[citation needed]}

Similar instruments[link]

• The Ondes-Martenot also uses the principle of heterodyning oscillators, but has a keyboard as well as a slide controller and is touched while playing.^[52]
• The Electro-Theremin (or Tannerin after Paul Tanner who played it in several productions including three tracks for The Beach Boys^[53]), built by Bob Whitsell in the 1950s,^[54] does not use heterodyning oscillators and has to be touched while playing, but it allows continuous variation of the frequency range and sounds similar to the theremin.
• The Persephone, an analogue fingerboard synthesizer with CV and MIDI, inspired by the trautonium. The Persephone allows continuous variation of the frequency range from 1 to 10 octaves. The ribbon is pressure and position sensitive.
• The Electronde, invented in 1929 by Martin Taubman, has an antenna for pitch control, a handheld switch for articulation and a foot pedal for volume control.^[55]
• The Syntheremin is an extension of the theremin.
• The Croix Sonore (Sonorous Cross), is based on the theremin. It was developed by Russian composer Nicolas Obouchov in France, after he saw Lev Theremin demonstrate the theremin in 1924.
• The terpsitone, also invented by Theremin, consisted of a platform fitted with space-controlling antennae, through and around which a dancer would control the musical performance. By most accounts, the instrument was nearly impossible to control. Of the three instruments built, only the last one, made in 1978 for Lydia Kavina, survives today.
• The Z.Vex Effects Fuzz Probe, Wah Probe and Tremolo Probe, using a theremin to control said effects. The Fuzz Probe can be used as a theremin, as it can through feedback oscillation create tones of any pitch.
• The Haken Continuum Fingerboard uses a continuous, flat playing surface along which the player slides his fingers to create the desired pitch and timbre values. Describable as "a continuous pitch controller that resembles a keyboard, but has no keys."
• The MC-505 by Roland being able using the integrated D-Beam-sensor like a Theremin.
• The Otamatone by the Cube Works company which is played by sliding the fingers up and down a stem to control a three-level pitch sound.
• The Audiocubes by Percussa are light emitting smart blocks which have 4 sensors on each side (optical theremin). The sensors measure the distance to your hands to control an effect or sound.^[56]
• A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is the application of a hand saw as a musical instrument. The sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a friction idiophone with direct friction (131.22) under the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification.

References[link]

• Theremin Family

Publications[link]

• Rockmore, Clara (1998). Method for Theremin. Edited by David Miller & Jeffrey McFarland-Johnson. Made publicly available at Clara Rockmore Method for Theremin [pdf]
• Eyck, Carolina (2006). The Art of Playing the Theremin. Berlin: SERVI Verlag. ISBN 3-933757-08-8. 
• Glinsky, Albert (2000). Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02582-2. 

Film and video[link]

• Martin, Steven M. (Director) (1995). Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey. (Film and DVD). Orion/MGM. 
• Olsen, William (Director) (1995). Mastering the Theremin (Videotape (VHS) and DVD). Moog Music and Little Big Films. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Theremin

• ThereminWorld.com
• ThereminVox.com
• TECI: Theremin Enthusiasts Club International
• Ted.com: Pamelia Kurstin plays and discusses her theremin
• Theremin Music Gaining Popularity – Audio: KPLU's Bellamy Pailthorp reports.

Clara Rockmore (March 9, 1911 – May 10, 1998^[1]) was a virtuoso performer of the theremin, an electronic musical instrument.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Biography[link]

Born as Clara Reisenberg in (present-day) Vilnius, Lithuania, Rockmore was a child prodigy on the violin and entered the Imperial conservatory of Saint Petersburg at the age of five. She studied violin under the virtuoso Leopold Auer, and remains to this day the youngest student ever to be admitted to the institution. Unfortunately, bone problems due to childhood malnutrition forced her to abandon violin performance past her teen years. That however led her to discover the newborn electronic instrument and become perhaps the most renowned player of the theremin.^{[citation needed]}

Rockmore had several gifts that enabled her to play the theremin so well. Her classical training gave her an advantage over the many theremin performers who lacked this background. She possessed absolute pitch, helpful in playing an instrument that generates tones of any pitch throughout its range, not just those those defined by equal temperament. She had extremely precise, rapid control of her movements, important in playing an instrument that depends on the performer's motion and proximity rather than touch. She also had the advantage of working directly with Léon Theremin from the early days of the instrument's commercial development in the United States. Template:Robert Moog, "The Art Of The Theremin" liner notes

Rockmore, as the mature musician she was, saw the limitations of the original instrument and helped to develop the instrument to fulfill her needs, making several suggestions to improve the theremin as a performing instrument. Such suggestions, like a faster volume antenna, wider musical range, and control over the instrument's tone color were incorporated by the inventor in later versions. She had a special theremin tailored by Léon Theremin himself to meet her unique requirements. Template:Robert Moog, "The Art Of The Theremin" liner notes

She developed a whole technique for playing the instrument, including a fingering system, which allowed her to perform accurately fast passages and large note leaps without the much known portamento on theremin. Template:Robert Moog, "The Art Of The Theremin" liner notes

Her older sister was the concert pianist Nadia Reisenberg. Although Theremin proposed to her, Rockmore married attorney Robert Rockmore, and thereafter used his name professionally.^[7]

She died in New York City on May 10, 1998, aged 87.

Albums[link]

• The.art.of.the.theremin.jpg

  The Art of the Theremin
  (1987)
• Clara.rockmores.lost.theremin.album.jpg

  Clara Rockmore's Lost Theremin Album
  (2006)

Film and video[link]

• Martin, Steven M. (Director) (1995). Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (Film and DVD). MGM. http://www.mgm.com/view/movie/1984/Theremin:-An-Electronic-Odyssey/. Retrieved 2009-09-11. 
• Moog, Robert (Producer) (1998). Clara Rockmore: The Greatest Theremin Virtuosa (Videotape (VHS)). Moog Music and Little Big Films. http://www.moogmusic.com/detail.php?main_product_id=52. 
• Moog, Robert (Producer) (2005). Two Theremin Classics (DVD). Moog Music and Little Big Films. http://www.moogmusic.com/products/merch/two-theremin-classics-dvd. 

References[link]

• Glinsky, Albert (2000). Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02582-2. 
• Moog, Robert (2002-10-27). "In Clara's Words: An Interview with Clara Rockmore". http://www.thereminvox.com/article/articleview/21/1/22/. Retrieved 2006-10-19. 
• Strauss, D. (2006-06-01). "Clara Rockmore". http://remixmag.com/artists/remix_clara_rockmore/. Retrieved 2006-10-19. 

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• The Official Nadia Reisenberg Clara Rockmore Foundation Website
• The Clara Rockmore Collection at the Special Collections in Performing Arts at the University of Maryland, College Park
• A Short Photo-biography of Clara Rockmore
• In Clara's Words – An interview Clara Rockmore gave to Bob Moog in 1977.
• In Clara’s Home – Her Last Years, and the Summer of 1997 – An essay, written by Steve J. Sherman, Clara Rockmore's great-nephew and Nadia Reisenberg's grandson, providing an in-depth account of Clara Rockmore’s life during her last decade, up until her death in 1998.
• A MySpace page devoted to Clara Rockmore
• Nadia Reisenberg / Clara Rockmore Foundation
• Streamable NPR "All Songs Considered" show featuring 'Summertime' performed by Clara Rockmore
• Clara Rockmore at ThereminWorld
• Clara Rockmore. La diva del éter (Spanish bio by Audionautas)
• Rara avis II: Léon Theremin, Clara Rockmore y el instrumento que se toca sin ser tocado

This article's citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. (December 2010)

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Pamelia Kurstin (born Pamela Stickney May 28, 1976 in Southern California) is a notable American theremin player. She has performed and recorded with artists including David Byrne, Richard Cheese, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Barbez, and Ulver, and was instrumental to the final design of Robert Moog's Etherwave Pro Theremin, for which she was the primary test musician.^{[citation needed]} Pamelia has made various film, television and radio appearances, most notably on Saturday Night Live,^{[citation needed]} and in the 2004 documentary Moog, and her music for theremin orchestra featured on CNN.^{[citation needed]}

Pamelia has also presented talks at events such as TED.^[1] Her background as a jazz musician on the upright bass has led to develop a "walking bass" theremin technique. She was based in New York until 2005; she now lives in Vienna.

She was first introduced to the theremin during production of the album Into the Oh in 1999 by Luaka Bop duo Geggy Tah – singer/writer Tommy Jordan and keyboardist Greg Kurstin. Kurstin recorded Gymnopedie in 2000 as a member of the theremin/keyboard duo called "The Kurstins" with her then-husband, Greg. Her first solo album Thinking Out Loud was released in 2007 on John Zorn's Tzadik label. She also appears on the Foetus album "Love".

External links[link]

• Myspace site
• Official site
• Barbez's website
• Tzadik site
• Pamelia Kurstin links and info at ThereminWorld
• Interview at Guardian website
• Improvisation at Guardian website
• Pamelia Kurstin interview (march 2003) for QRD
• TED Talks: Pamelia Kurstin plays the theremin at TED in 2002

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Lydia Kavina
Background information
Born	(1967-09-08) 8 September 1967 (age 44)
Origin	Moscow, Russia
Instruments	Theremin
Website	www.lydiakavina.com
Notable instruments
Theremin

Lydia Kavina (born 8 September 1967) is a Russian theremin player, and is currently the leading performing musician on the instrument.

The grand-daughter of Léon Theremin's first cousin,^[1] Kavina was born in Moscow and began studying the instrument under the direction of Theremin when she was nine years old. Five years later, she gave her first theremin concert, which marked the beginning of a musical career that has so far led to more than 1000 theatre, radio, and television performances around the world.

Kavina has appeared as a solo performer at such prestigious venues as the Bolshoi Saal of the Moscow Conservatory, Moscow International Art Centre with National Philarmonic of Russia under Vladimir Spivakov and Bellevue Palace in Berlin, the residence of the German President. She has also performed at leading festivals, including Caramoor with the Orchestra St. Luke's, New York's Lincoln Center Festival, Holland Music Festival, Martinu Festival, Electronic Music Festival in Burge and Moscow “Avantgarde”.

Kavina performs most of the classical theremin repertoire, including popular works for theremin by Bohuslav Martinů, Joseph Schillinger, and Spellbound by Miklos Rozsa, as well as Equatorial by Edgard Varèse and the lesser known Testament by Nicolas Obouchov.

In addition to giving concerts, Kavina is a composer of music for theremin and teaches the instrument in Western Europe, Russia and the United States. Together with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, she played theremin for Howard Shore's soundtrack of the Oscar-winning film Ed Wood, as well as for eXistenZ (also by Shore) and The Machinist. Additionally, Kavina has recorded several compact discs and is the subject of an instructional video from the theremin manufacturer Moog Music. She was also featured in stage productions such as Alice and The Black Rider (both conceived and directed by Robert Wilson, with music by Tom Waits) at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, and in collaboration with the Russian experimental surf band Messer Chups.

Lydia Kavina is an active promoter of new experimental music for the theremin. In collaboration with Barbara Buchholz and Kamerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, Kavina performed a number of concerts of contemporary works for theremin in Germany in 2005–2007 as part of the Touch! Don't Touch! – Music for Theremin project.

The most notable project of her recent career is her theremin solo in The Little Mermaid, a ballet by Lera Auerbach, choreographed by John Neumeier in Copenhagen New Opera Haus and Hamburg State Opera (2007).

Kavina has completed a number of her own compositions for theremin including a Concerto for Theremin and Symphony Orchestra, first performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra under the direction of Gil Rose.

Kavina holds a degree in composition from The Moscow Conservatory, where she also completed a postgraduate assistantship program.

CDs[link]

• Music from the Ether, Mode records, 1999
• Concerto per Theremin. Live in Italy, Teleura, 2000
• Touch! Don't Touch! – Music for Theremin with Barbara Buchholz, Wergo, 2006
• Spellbound!, Mode records, 2008

Collaborations

• Music for Films III Music by Brian Eno, Opal Records, 1988
• Ed Wood: Original Soundtrack Recording Music by Howard Shore, Hollywood Records, 1994
• eXistenZ, Soundtrack Music by Howard Shore, RCA Victor, 1999
• Black Black Magic Music by Messer Chups, Solnze Records, 2002
• Crazy Price Music by Messer Chups, Solnze Records, 2003
• Vamp Babes , Upgrade Version Music by Messer Chups, Solnze Records, 2004
• Baehlamms Fest Music by Olga Neuwirth, Kairos, 2003
• The Machinist, Soundtrack Music by Roque Baños, Melodramma Records, 2005

Videos[link]

• Mastering the Theremin, Big Briar, 1995
• Concerto per Theremin. Live in Italy, Teleura, 2001

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• LYDIA KAVINA PLAYS THEREMIN Channel on YouTube
• An interview with Lydia Kavina
• Lydia Kavina at Mode Records
• Concerto per Theremin: the Live CD from Lydia Kavina
• Лидия Кавина discography at MusicBrainz
• Lydia Kavina performing Debussy's "Claire de Lune" on YouTube