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The Theremin Journey of Eric Ross

Photo of thereminist Eric Ross at Casada Musica, Oporto Portugal.

Eric Ross is a composer, performer, multi-instrumentalist, and theremin player. He has written countless scores in his long career, including many pages of original music for the theremin. He has presented rich multimedia performances worldwide, mixing music, video, and computer art and dance. And he has released several recordings. In this interview, Eric tells us about his long musical journey.

Lydia Kavina: The Theremin Yesterday And Today

Theremin Virtuosa Lydia Kavina in Chile

Lydia Kavina is one of the greatest thereminists of all time. The last protégé of Léon Theremin, she started studying the theremin at the age of nine. She played a fundamental role in the so-called “renaissance of the theremin,” performing all over the world, making recordings, participating in film soundtracks, writing original music for theremin, and teaching the instrument to new generations of thereminists. I had the pleasure of exchanging a few words with her.

“Vanishing Point.” A Theremin Concept Album

Vanishing Point theremin album by Timeless Sonic Factory

The latest release of Timeless Sonic Factory, the creature of long-time thereminist Maurizio “ErMan” Mansueti, is a beautiful, intense, and captivating theremin concept album. In addition to putting the theremin at center stage, it shows it in a new light.

Zenaide Hanenfeldt: The Scion of Imperial Russia That Became a Theremin Diva

Thereminist Zenaide Hanenfeldt and Leon Theremin.

Zenaide Hanenfeldt was one of Leon Theremin’s first associates in the United States. She played a leading role, from 1929 to 1934, in the American adventure of Leon Theremin, appearing in some of the most important theremin events of the period and experiencing a brief period of intense and ephemeral celebrity as a theremin diva. Later, she almost disappeared into oblivion, confined to stingy annotations in the history of the theremin. Let’s find out a little more about her.

Bohuslav Martinů and Lucie Rosen: the Path to Fantasia for Theremin

Bohuslav Martinů and Lucie Rosen in New York.

Although Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů does not enjoy the same fame as other composers of the same period, he certainly has a prominent place in twentieth-century music. He is also well known by theremin enthusiasts thanks to Fantasia for theremin, oboe, piano, and string quartet, the composition commissioned to him in 1944 by Lucie Bigelow Rosen. Let’s try to understand a little more about him and follow the path that led him from a Moravian village to Manhattan, where the fortuitous meeting took place.

Shueh-li Ong: Music From Another Land

Shueh-li Ong with her synthesizers, Theremin and Guqin

An interview with polystrumentist, singer and composer Shueh-li Ong. “Music From Another Land” is not the typical “theremin album” you’d expect from musicians like Lydia Kavina, Pamelia Kurstin or Peter Pringle, to name a few. Although there is a good amount of well-played theremin, it just doesn’t play the leading role. In fact, the feeling […]

In Clara’s Home – Her Last Years, and the Summer of 1997

Clara Rockmore playing the Theremin.

The following essay was written by Steve J. Sherman, Clara Rockmore’s great-nephew and Nadia Reisenberg’s grandson. As the title suggests, it provides us with an in-depth account of Clara Rockmore’s life during her last decade, up until her death in 1998, and includes a detailed chapter devoted to the controversial summer of 1997 and the […]

Luigi Russolo Exhibition at Mart, Italy

Luigi Russolo at the Russolophone.

An exhibition announced as the “first large-scale anthological of [Luigi] Russolo” is something that a Futurism fanatic and Russolo worshipper like me can’t miss. Moreover, the info page at Mart‘s web site said: Reconstructions of his “Noisemakers” […] will be put on show for the express purpose of enabling the public to interact with them. I […]