Theremin

Alright, here’s something you won’t get to catch every day: a theremin concert.

A whatsit?

A theremin: an electronic instrument where the musician moves his hands near antennae to change the frequency and amplitude of the sound created. What does it sound like? Well, imagine the sound of the lady singing at the beginning of  Star Trek. It’s kind of like that. Or better yet, search for “theremin” on YouTube for a taste of it.

Or hey, here’s an even better idea: go to the Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center this Friday at 8 pm and catch James Coleman playing his theramin with Radu Malfatti and Mark Collins. From a review of Coleman’s recent release, Zuihistu:

This is a superb release comprised of brief but very rich pieces featuring Coleman’s theremin in dialogue with various combinations of his young colleagues from Boston’s fertile improv scene. It must be tough to be a thereminist—the unusual instrument is mostly associated with either monster movies or with the music of composers like Messiaen, who frequently employed the theremin’s cousin the ondes martenot in his music. But as is evident from the opening moments of “This Castle Keeps Me”, where the theremin is joined by excellently bowed percussion, Coleman lifts his instrument from its associations and demonstrates that he’s got real range (instrumental and imaginative) in terms of notes, colors, attack, and more. He and his colleagues are after more than just convivial instrumental dialogue; they are looking to find the sound within the sound.

Lou Cohen (solo) and Gill Arno, James Coleman, Lou Cohen, Jeffrey Allport, Andrew Lafkas, Gust Burns (sextet) also perform. $5 – $15 sliding scale admission. See the Wayward Music Blog for more info.