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Theremin: An Electronic
Odyssey (A
Centennial Celebration of the invention of the Theremin)
Wednesday, October
16th at 7:30 PM
$12 Members | $17
Public
Featuring a
performance and post-film discussion with thereminist, Rob Schwimmer, in
conversation with musicologist, Olivia Mattis
Come take part in a
worldwide celebration of the 100 year anniversary of the invention of one of
the world’s most unique and beautiful instruments, the theremin.
The theremin, invented in Russia in 1920 by Leon Theremin, is played without
making physical contact with instrument. The thereminist moves his or
her hands in the proximity of two metal antennas, creating its eerie and
haunting sound.
Theremin: An
Electronic Odyssey tells the remarkable true story of
Leon Theremin, the Russian
inventor of an electronic musical instrument called the
theremin, which uses motion to produce a sliding ethereal sound. After eleven
years spent in New York,
Theremin is escorted back to Russia by the KGB and
made to work on surveillance technology. He disappears behind the Iron
Curtain for 51 years, until his sudden reemergence in 1989. During his
absence, the theremin became a popular instrument, featured in the scores of
films like “ Spellbound," "The Day The Earth Stood
Still," and "The Lost Weekend" - as well as through the
performances of Clara Rockmore. (USA
& UK, 1995, 83 Mins., PG, English | Dir. Steven M. Martin)
Rob Schwimmer (theremin)
is a composer-pianist/keyboardist, thereminist, and Haken
Continuum player. As a world class thereminist, Schwimmer has been
featured on CBS
Sunday Morning, in the New York Times and
the Wall Street
Journal. Former co-director and founding member of the New
York Theremin Society, his credits as theremin soloist include Simon &
Garfunkel’s world tours, the Boston Pops, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Bobby
McFerrin at Carnegie Hall and Gotye’s Ondioline Orchestra. Rob
is currently the thereminist for Ethan Iverson’s “Pepperland,” a
full length dance piece for The Mark Morris Dance Group which premiered in
Liverpool in 2017 as part of Liverpool’s “Sgt. Pepper at 50” celebration and
recently concluded a 7 week tour of the UK. In addition to his
CD Theremin Noir (with Uri
Caine and Mark Feldman), Schwimmer played on Trey Anastasio’s CD Traveler, Matthew
Barney’s epic movie Cremaster
3, and A&E’s Breakfast
with the Arts.
Olivia Mattis is
a musicologist with degrees from Stanford and Yale Universities. She was the
first to conduct an interview with Leon
Theremin when he came out of Soviet seclusion in 1989 after
51 years of state confinement. She organized the First International Theremin
Festival (Portland, ME) and the first MoogFest (Buffalo and Rochester, NY).
Her vintage RCA theremin instrument is now in the musical instrument
collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her interview with Theremin
was published in Keyboard magazine and
can be found here:
https://www.thereminvox.com/story/495/
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