OneWingedBird
Beloved of Ra
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2003
- Messages
- 15,431
Since the theremin is arguably one of the most Fortean instruments and has a fair pedegree in the genre, I thought I'd start a thread dedicated to Lydia Kavina, who has the distinction of being variously the great niece of Lev Termin/Leon Theremin, his pupil from an early age, and is credited with being the leading theremin player in the world today.
A good profile on her from mode.com:
Lydia Kavina is the leading thereminist active in the world today. The granddaughter of Leon Theremin's first cousin, she was the inventor's last protégée. She began studying the instrument with him at the age of nine, and was concertizing by age fourteen. Since then, Kavina has given over 500 performances on the instrument, including radio and television broadcasts and theater productions in Russia, Europe, the U.S. and Brazil. She has served as Master Teacher in Russia, Germany, England and the U.S., including the Theremin Summer Institute in Portland, Maine. Kavina studied composition at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow, where she graduated summa cum laude in 1992 and finished post-graduate studies in 1997. Her own works have significantly extended the repertory for the intstrument. Her theremin concerto, The Seasons of the Year (1997), was premiered by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project conducted by Gil Rose. With Robert Moog she has produced a video entitled Mastering the Theremin.
Ms. Kavina was the featured theremin soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the soundtrack score by Howard Shore to the Oscar winning movie Ed Wood. Shore later composed theremin parts for her in the soundtrack to David Cronenberg's Existenz, as well as creating a special "Suite" with chamber orchestra from the Ed Wood score for Ms. Kavina's debut recital at The Lincoln Center Summer Festival (2000), New York City. The Lincoln Center debut also featured premiere works written for Ms. Kavina by Christian Wolff and Olga Neuwirth, as well as Miklos Rosza's Spellbound Concerto, all of which have been recorded for Mode (to be released in 2002).
Lydia's homepage is worth a look, and contains her performance schedule, unfortunately with no UK dates upcoming atm.
She appears as herself in the 1994 movie Theremin, along with player Clara Rockmore and synth pioneer Bob Moog.
Most of her recordings seem to be quite difficult to get hold of on CD, there only appears to be Music From The Ether that's fairly available, though there are a few live recordings in circulation.
A good profile on her from mode.com:
Lydia Kavina is the leading thereminist active in the world today. The granddaughter of Leon Theremin's first cousin, she was the inventor's last protégée. She began studying the instrument with him at the age of nine, and was concertizing by age fourteen. Since then, Kavina has given over 500 performances on the instrument, including radio and television broadcasts and theater productions in Russia, Europe, the U.S. and Brazil. She has served as Master Teacher in Russia, Germany, England and the U.S., including the Theremin Summer Institute in Portland, Maine. Kavina studied composition at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow, where she graduated summa cum laude in 1992 and finished post-graduate studies in 1997. Her own works have significantly extended the repertory for the intstrument. Her theremin concerto, The Seasons of the Year (1997), was premiered by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project conducted by Gil Rose. With Robert Moog she has produced a video entitled Mastering the Theremin.
Ms. Kavina was the featured theremin soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the soundtrack score by Howard Shore to the Oscar winning movie Ed Wood. Shore later composed theremin parts for her in the soundtrack to David Cronenberg's Existenz, as well as creating a special "Suite" with chamber orchestra from the Ed Wood score for Ms. Kavina's debut recital at The Lincoln Center Summer Festival (2000), New York City. The Lincoln Center debut also featured premiere works written for Ms. Kavina by Christian Wolff and Olga Neuwirth, as well as Miklos Rosza's Spellbound Concerto, all of which have been recorded for Mode (to be released in 2002).
Lydia's homepage is worth a look, and contains her performance schedule, unfortunately with no UK dates upcoming atm.
She appears as herself in the 1994 movie Theremin, along with player Clara Rockmore and synth pioneer Bob Moog.
Most of her recordings seem to be quite difficult to get hold of on CD, there only appears to be Music From The Ether that's fairly available, though there are a few live recordings in circulation.