100 Years Of The Theremin

A special podcast in honour of the 100th birthday of the unique "invisible" electronic musical instrument invented, by accident, by physicist Leon Theremin. Starring Cyril Lance (Chief Engineer, Moog), Dorit Chrysler (composer/New York Theremin Society), Bruce Woolley (songwriter/Radio Science Orchestra) and Katia Isakoff (singer/songwriter and producer) and the music of Clara Rockmore (theremin virtuosa/friend of Leon Theremin), talking about the magic of the instrument, its legacy, technology and present exciting developments as Moog releases Claravox, a centenary edition of the theremin.

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
01:39 - Cyril Lance / The Claravox
16:12 - Dorit Chrysler
24:54 - Bruce Woolley
31:36 - Katia Isakoff

Music credits:

Rachmaninov Vocalise - Clara Rockmore, theremin. Nadia Reisenberg, piano.
From: “Clara Rockmore – The Art of the Theremin”. Delos Productions CD. Courtesy of The Nadia Reisenberg / Clara Rockmore Foundation

Schneeleichen - by Dorit Chrysler - unreleased extract from M - eine stadt sucht einen moerder - with kind permission of Dorit Chrysler

Beat Monjune - by Dorit Chrysler - unreleased extract from M - eine stadt sucht einen moerder - with kind permission of Dorit Chrysler

Therexotica - by Peg Ming - with kind permission of Dorit Chrysler (a track on the Theremin 100 compilation produced by The NY Theremin Society)

Peace Song to Other Worlds (2 extracts) - by Radio Science Orchestra - with kind permission of Bruce Woolley

Theremini solo - by Katia Isakoff - with kind permission of Katia Isakoff

Clara Rockmore Biog
Clara (Reisenberg) Rockmore holds a unique place in music history as the star performer of the theremin. Born in Russia, in 1911, at four, she was accepted as the youngest ever violin student at the St. Petersburg Imperial Conservatory. As conditions deteriorated after the Revolution, the Reisenberg family left Russia and travelled across Europe for several years until 1921 when they succeeded in gaining passage on a steamship bound for America. In New York, Clara resumed her studies with Leopold Auer, but shortly before she was to make her American debut (playing the Beethoven Concerto), she developed an arthritic problem with her bow arm, and had to give up the violin.

Fortunately, she had met Leon Theremin (an Americanisation of Lev Termen, as he was known in Russia), the inventor of the world’s first electronic instrument. “I was fascinated by the aesthetic part of it, the visual beauty, the idea of playing in the air,” Clara recalled, “and I loved the sound. I tried it, and apparently showed some kind of immediate ability to manipulate it. Soon Lev Sergeyevich gave me, for a present, the RCA model theremin.”

She convinced Leon Theremin to build her a far more precise and responsive instrument than the RCA model, one with a five-octave range, instead of three. Over the years she performed extensively but it was not until 1977 that she saw the release of her first commercial LP, performances with Nadia Reisenberg (recorded by Robert Moog) titled ‘The Art Of The Theremin’.

In 1989, Steve M. Martin, long fascinated by the instrument, embarked upon the documentary Theremin - An Electronic Odyssey, a film including some of Clara’s last public performances (videotaped at a 1989 Nadia Reisenberg tribute concert in Merkin Hall), and the New York reunion of Clara and Leon Theremin (then aged 95). Premiered in New York at Alice Tully Hall, the film in large measure revitalised interest in both the theremin itself and Clara Rockmore’s unique accomplishments. She died in 1998.

Cyril Lance Biog
Cyril Lance is the Chief Technical Officer at Moog Music and lead designer of the Moog Claravox Centennial Theremin. Cyril first met Bob Moog in January 2005 during an informal visit to Moog factory.  When Bob was diagnosed with cancer in April of 2005, Cyril was asked to come up and take over the engineering effort.  Since then, Cyril has been at the helm of engineering and product development and, along with the dedicated and passionate team at Moog Music, has helped to continue Moog’s legacy of designing and producing beautifully crafted electronic instruments aimed at inspiring artists world-wide to explore and expand their personal sonic vocabularies.  Cyril strives daily to continue Bob Moog’s legacy and to have a lot of fun along the way.  “It’s truly a blessing to have the opportunity to contribute in one small-way to the transformative powers of music to bring joy and connect people on the deepest levels through-out the world”.
https://www.moogmusic.com/

Dorit Chrysler Biog
Dorit Chrysler has been dubbed a superior wizard of the theremin. An Austrian-born, New York based composer and performer, Chrysler is the co-founder of the NY Theremin Society and started the first international school for Theremin, KidCoolThereminSchool and L’Ecole Theremine with branches in NY and Paris. She is also one of the most visible Thereminists spreading the gospel of this mysterious sounding instrument. Most recently she finished her analog soundtrack for a remake of “M” by Fritz Lang and was featured on the soundtrack of the HBO documentary “Going Clear”. Chrysler received her master’s degree of musicology in Vienna and has notably collaborated with Anders Trentemøller, Cluster, Adult., CERN, Carsten Nicolai, Elliot Sharp and Laurie Spiegel. She has performed with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, had her work commissioned by MoMA and the Venice Biennale, and is the founder of “Dame Electric,” a festival dedicated to female | pioneers in Analog Music. As the director of the NY Theremin Society, Chrysler is promoting the application of theremin in different art disciplines and has produced the THEREMIN100 compilation release, commemorating the 100th birthday of the Theremin in 2020.
http://www.doritchrysler.com/toc.html
https://www.nythereminsociety.org/

Bruce Woolley Biog
In 1969 Bruce Woolley bought a Futurama electric guitar, formed a school band, and dreamed of being a professional musician. After years of experimentation, and unsuccessful attempts at becoming a famous jazz-rock guitarist, he decided to concentrate on writing pop songs. In 1979 he co-wrote “Video Killed the Radio Star”.  After a stint fronting cult New Wave unit The Camera Club, Woolley moved back into songwriting and production, forming a creative partnership with Grace Jones. In 1994, Woolley discovered Exotica and formed The Radio Science Orchestra, a theremin-led group that defined retrofuturism before people were talking about retrofuturism. A sonic time machine travelling along the whole history of electronic music, the Orchestra has collaborated with the world’s leading theremin virtuosi including Lydia Kavina, Carolina Eyck and Charlie Draper. Notable guest artists include Grace Jones, Polly Scattergood, Ken Hollings, Dr. Robert Moog, Steve Dub and Thomas Dolby.
http://www.brucewoolleyhq.com/
https://www.radioscienceorchestra.com/

Katia Isakoff Biog
Katia Isakoff is a composer and multi-instrumentalist music producer whose compositions, performances and productions first appeared in the Add N To (X) album Loud Like Nature (Mute Records).  She has since collaborated on numerous albu...