XI THEREMINOLOGY FESTIVAL
The festival is multilingual, please don't forget to turn on Russian or English subtitles.
Theremin Today and St. Petersburg Theremin Society present the 11th International Festival of Theremin Culture Thereminology
The festival will be attended by members of St. Petersburg Theremin Society, Russian Theremin School, finalists of Theremin Star competition and guests of the festival - thereminists from different countries of the world.
Winter is the perfect time for an online festival.
We did not have a goal to make each theremin player sit on an ice throne and collect the word "eternity" from fragments of ice. This is a warm, lively festival, where the multi-genre and pronounced individuality of each participant are united by a common aesthetic concept, which is most valuable for us, as the organizers of the festival.
It is quite obvious that the festival is impossible without alchemy: each festival participant is always self-sufficient in their aspirations, and falling into our strong embrace, connecting in the festival space with the creative work of other performers, allows integrating a greater understanding of the theremin into society and drawing attention to the processes that take place in theremin culture today.
Participation in the festival is an opportunity to show love and respect for Lev Theremin and the Russian origin of the theremin. Lev Theremin created a new relationship between human beings and sound: new principles that were ahead of its time and still remain relevant and innovative in the 21st century.
The theremin is probably the most original Russian musical instrument, an electric instrument, but at the same time very lively and acoustic. The theremin is one of the most unexplored musical instruments with very high potential and unique, expressive possibilities.
There are tens of thousands of theremins in the contemporary world. Still, people who are trying to create theremin projects today know very well that it is very difficult to find even 60 good theremin players. If we talk about theremin performers who can play an hour and a half concert of classical and modern academic music, then there are no more than ten such performers all over the world, they are very different from each other in their performing technique.
The online version of the Thereminology /Терменология. festival has united a variety of theremin performers, with very different performing levels and backgrounds, but it is people who will probably form or are already forming the theremin culture in the 21st century.
One of the festival's objectives is to help society realize that theremin exists, develops, attracts positive and creative people.
Many participants were not afraid to go out of their comfort zone and record music that was not typical of their usual repertoire. It seems to us that this is some challenge for every performer: an opportunity to somehow look at the theremin in a different way, from an unexpected side, or just immerse in the atmosphere of Russian music. We hope that this will contribute to creative discoveries and inspiration for both: performers and listeners.
The online version of the festival has become a logical continuation of our Theremin Today web project, which turned ten years old. Theremin Today brings together performers from around the world. It is a kind of up-to-date map of performers and information resources, as well as blogs dedicated to theremin in social networks. Therefore, most participants are familiar to us and readers of Theremin Today for many years.
We are very grateful for our incredible participants, guests of the international festival of theremin-culture Thereminology.
We will write separately about the first online theremin festival which took place in the recent year.
We want to thank all our wonderful participants who have joined in the first and second parts of the 11th Thereminology festival:
Víctor Estrada Mañas - Spanish theremin player, composer, guitarist, teacher, and a key figure for the theremin in the Spanish speaking space,
Marc Chouarain - French pianist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and founder of Le Studio Feerique centered around a rare collection of instruments of Marc,
Coralie Ehinger - Swiss theremin player, creator of the Therminal C project, which combines modular synthesizers and theremin into a single system, organizer of the French-language theremin portal Etheremin : Le groupe des théréministes francophones, and the theremin festival in Switzerland,
Jimmy Virani - More than 20 years is an enthusiast of the theremin, co-author of Coralie Ehinger on a francophone book about theremin for beginners, authored several albums of exotic theremin music,
May Roosevelt- composer and probably the only theremin performer in Greece, combines national motifs, voice, and electronics in her musical works,
Gilda Razani - Theremin/ Saxophone/ Live Electronics and Hans Wanning - German duo "About Aphrodite," Gilda Razani and Hans create music for theremin, saxophone, and synthesizers,
Lina Gervasi - Italian theremin and flutist, artist of Musica Lavica Records,
Thereminist Robert Meyer - German theremin player, leader of the metal band SCHRAMM, artist, and author of a number of theremin projects in Germany,
Lorenzo Lord Theremin Giorda and Flavio Rubatto are a duo from Italy. Lorenzo is an active participant in the Italian experimental scene,
Tears of Sirens project (Italy) - duet Giulia Riboli (theremin, voice, electronics) and Fabio Properzi (voice, electronics, keyboards),
HYrtis - artist, theremin player, and musical saw player from France, won the Theremin Star international theremin video competition,
Marielle Vaassen - one of the few theremin players in the Netherlands, participated in the show Holland's Got Talent, writes music,
Veronik - theremin performer from Peru, singer and rock musician, holder of a grant from the government of Peru on the popularization of the theremin,
Clara Venice - Canadian theremin player, composer, multi-instrumentalist and singer,
ONUKA - Ukrainian singer, composer, and fan of the theremin,
Paulo Pascual Castro- Spanish thereminist, creator of the Spanish-language educational project Planeta Theremin,
Jairo Moreno Spanish theremin player and participant of the show Got Talent España,
Ernesto Mendoza Polanco - a key theremin performer and teacher in Mexico
Victoria Lundy - theremin enthusiast from the USA,
Maurizio ErMan Mansueti - Italian thereminist and electronic musician who recorded several albums with music for theremin.
Probably the largest theremin community in the world is in Japan, and we always try to present our Japanese friends at the festival,
Yoko Onishi - the founder of the Theremin Museum in Japan. Yoko's collection includes the original 1929 RCA Victor theremin, which she plays in her festival video
Kanako Hamada - thereminist and artistic director of Tokyo Theremin Orchestra
ヨダ タケシ - thereminist and creator of YouTube channel Tokyo Theremin,
Traditionally, members of the St.Petersburg Theremin Society, which brought together key Russian theremin performers, took part in the festival.
Olesya Rostovskaya . Composer, member of the Union of Composers and Electroacoustic Association,
Vladimir Shamarin - actor, engineer, and artist of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic for children and youth,
Dmitry Gurovich - jazz musician, producer, double bass player, and creator of the concept of "Moon-theremin,
Andrey Grigoriev - leader of the House of Anger group,
Vladimir Kitlyar - a member of the Billy's band and an active member of the St. Petersburg rock scene.
Associate members of the Society also took part in the festival
Thorwald Jørgensen - a leading European academic theremin player, a longtime friend of our festival, presented the program with Russian pianist professor of the Royal Conservatory, Camilla Bystrova.
Dorit Chrysler is an Austrian-American theremin player, singer, electronic musician, official representative of the Moog Music Inc., and co-founder of the The NY Theremin Society.
Masami Takeuchi, the inventor of the concept of "Matryomin" - a simplified theremin in the form of a Russian nesting doll, as well as the creator of the Japanese school of the theremin, presented his new inclusive project Aero Electro Matrioshka
At the same time, the online festival has become a platform for the debut of young thereminists. It seems to us that this is a good tradition.
We thank our participants:
Yuto Obata - young Japanese composer and thereminist performed his music for theremin and piano.
JinKyu Jang - a young talented theremin player from South Korea, who started practicing theremin at the beginning of last year, recorded for the festival video with the music of G.Sviridov.
Charlotte Abigaël Duboiss - French singer and thereminist. You can see the beautiful festival debut of Charlotte, who presented her version of the Russian lullaby.
The wonderful, creative, beloved and purposeful students of the Russian Theremin School - Irina Koval, Sergey Babaylov, Vladimir Babitsky, Oleg Viktorovich, Kristina Vybornova, Lora Zaikonnikova, Iraida Zakharova, Gleb Zakhodyakin, Vladimir Ivanov, Frankie, Alya Yartseva.
Thank you so much, dear friends, for your talents and love of the theremin.
We hope that the online festival will become a tradition for Thereminology, even when the restrictions are lifted, and covid does not interfere with offline concerts. This format provides unique opportunities.
The purpose of the festival, in addition to forming a community of talented thereminists of a new generation, is to popularize the history of the theremin, Russian culture. Most performers have studied and are learning on their own, so forming such an online space is vital. It is essential for us to show that the theremin is a relevant musical instrument. It is important for us to provide an opportunity for listeners and theremin players to get acquainted with the different contexts and uses of the theremin without forgetting the traditions of the theremin and the underlying academic context and culture of this instrument.
Participation in the festival is a tribute to Lev Theremin.
The third part of the 11th festival of theremin culture Thereminology will be published in March. Stay tuned for the news.
Sincerely yours,
Natasha Theremin, Peter Theremin, Masha Theremin