Birth name Natasha Theremin Instruments Theremin | Occupation(s) Musician | |
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Genres Classical music, electronic music | ||
Natasha Theremin (born Natalia Theremin 4 June 1948) is a Russian musician.
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Early life
She is the daughter of Russian scientist, musician and inventor Léon Theremin and Maria Feodorovna (Gushchina). Her father invented the instrument in which she specialized, the theremin in 1928.
Theremin received her first music lessons as a child from her father, who accompanied her on the piano. She graduated from the School of the Moscow Conservatory and the Gnessin Academy with a specialty in teaching piano.
Career
Beginning in the late 1970s, she began to develop new techniques on how to play the theremin, and became virtually the only concert performer on this instrument in the world.
Natasha Theremin introduced the instrument configuration that uses the edge of the palm. One octave fits between the open and closed positions of the hand. These settings were favored by performers such as Carolina Eyck, Masami Takeuchi and Lydia Kavina.
Continuing the innovations of Lev Theremin, Natasha created new interpretations of classical works, including "Swan" by Saint-Saens, "Daisies" and "Vocalise" by Sergei Rachmaninoff and "Concerto for voice" by Glier. She performs contemporary music for the theremin, written especially for her (such as "Fantasia for theremin and organ" by S. Archer, "Melody for theremin" by Vorontsov). She gives concerts in Moscow, Leningrad, Kazan, Vilnius, Tallinn and is involved in the filming of documentaries.
During joint visits with her father, Natasha Theremin demonstrated the theremin at the festival in Bourges, (France) and the concert program of the International Computer Music Festival in Stockholm (Sweden, 1990), New York University, the University of Berkeley (US, 1991) and during the award to Leo Theremin in the "Academy of light" in The Hague (Holland, 1993).
On September 25, 1991 at Stanford University, a concert was held in honor of Lev Theremin, in which Natasha, accompanied by electronic music pioneer Max Mathews, performed Rachmaninoff's "Vocalise".
Léon Theremin created a series of concerts for the tube theremin especially for Natasha. Under her guidance, Russia attempted to create the world's first theremin concert on a modern technology base. The tool was presented at festivals in France, Lithuania and Sweden.
After her father's death, Natasha stopped speaking. She resumed public activity in 2013, performing at the Festival Theremin in the Central Museum of Musical Culture in Moscow.
In 2016 she toured Hamamatsu, Tokyo and Kyoto.
Natalia was the co-organizer of the international festival of theremin culture, Thereminology, and curator of the Russian Theremin School (the only theremin school in Europe and Russia).