About

The Lithuanian Symphonic Wind Orchestra, a modern and versatile orchestra, performs music of various genres and styles, delivers interesting thematic programmes, and collaborates with renowned Lithuanian and foreign soloists. This time the orchestra not only anticipates the New Year with a multi-coloured programme, but also presents a little-known instrument, the theremin.

It is one of the strangest musical instruments. It consists of two metal antennas, generating electromagnetic fields, and two radio frequency generators. By finger movements between the two antennas, the electrical impulses are amplified and transmitted to a loudspeaker. Interestingly, this instrument was developed in 1920 by Leon Teremin, an inventor and future USSR spy. Initially, his goal was not a musical instrument, but a device that could measure the density of a gas. It turned out that if one puts a hand close to the gauge, one could make all kinds of sounds. In 1928, Teremin presented his invention in New York to great acclaim (although it was not a commercial success). The theremin was subsequently forgotten until the 1950s, when Hollywood filmmakers started using it for horror movie soundtracks. Later, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Beach Boys, Jean-Michel Jarre and others used it in their recordings. The instrument’s most notable revival came when Robert Moog, inspired by the theremin, created the legendary synthesiser bearing his name.

This unusual device will be played in Vilnius by Katica Illényi, a Hungarian virtuoso, violinist and vocalist. She has mastered classical, jazz and world music genres with equal success, has been awarded with the Outstanding Hungarian Artist and eMeRTon (Hungarian National Radio) awards, the Franz Liszt Prize, etc. She has released twenty albums and is an internationally touring musician. She has already performed in Kaunas, where she presented the programme The World of Clara Rockmore with the Kaunas Wind Orchestra Ąžuolynas. “I will never forget the night when I first saw Rockmore’s video on YouTube, in which she performed Camille Saint-Saëns’ Le cygnet (The Swan). At first, I didn’t even notice that she was playing something, I just wondered how it is possible to sing so high. Later I noticed that Clara was moving her hands. The title of the video said “theremin”, so I went online to find out more about it. It turns out that the theremin is the world’s first electronic music instrument. That night I was too excited to fall asleep. I was sure I wanted to learn how to play it,” Illényi once said.