Showing posts with label Charlotte Dubois. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charlotte Dubois. Show all posts

[S06E04] November 2024 - Thorwald Jorgensen



In this November 2024 edition of the Theremin 30 Podcast, host Rick Reid plays theremin music from the USA, Finland, France, and the Netherlands, and visits with Thorwald Jorgensen about his new classical album Nuit Exotique. 

FEATURED MUSIC*

*The full-length recordings featured in this show were used with the knowledge and permission of the artists and composers. Please support the artists by visiting their websites, purchasing their recordings, and attending their performances. 

ADDITIONAL MUSIC

INTERVIEW GUEST

CALENDAR OF THEREMIN EVENTS

MEDIA LINKS

SUPPORT THIS PODCAST

CONTACT

CREDITS 

Copyright 2024 Rick Reid 


--------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIPT

Please note: This transcript was created with the help of speech-to-text AI.  It may contain some errors.

David Brower  0:04  
Rick, this is Theremin 3030. Minutes of Theremin, music, news, events and interviews with a new episode about every 30 days. Now. Here's your host from Chicago, Illinois, Rick Reid, welcome

Rick Reid  0:19  
to the November 2024, episode of the theremin 30 podcast. I hope you had a happy Halloween last month with lots of opportunities to play spooky Theremin music for your friends and neighbors. This month, I've got no tricks, just treats with new music from Anna glyph, Charlotte Dubois and kepalatinen. And my interview guest is torwald Jorgenson. He'll be discussing his brand new classical music album, and we'll get to preview one of the tracks. Let's get started now with new music from Northern California. Anna glyph is music project of Anne wary. She's a singer songwriter, thereminist, guitarist and modular synthesist, and with any time left over. She's also an artist and animator on this brand new recording she just sent me. Steve bird joins her on string bass. Here is the world premiere of the Annaglyph single called Oleander leaves.

We started the show With a track called Oleander leaves by Annaglyph. That song will be available on band camp this month. Click on the artist name in this month's show notes at Theremin thirty.com and a bit of trivia on that track, Anne is playing a Moog ether wave, plus that she bought from me. Somehow it sounds better when she plays it. After that, we heard a song called lost opportunities. It's the new single from Finnish recording artist keppa lathannon, featuring Theremin piano, double bass and a vintage Mellotron. You can hear this track and more of Kepa is music on Spotify, and check out his soundtrack work on the TV series made in Finland, mobile 101 available on Disney plus.

it's time now for the theremin 30 calendar of Theremin events on November 19 and 20th, Spanish thereminist Javier Diaz Ena will share the stage with thereminist Ernesto Mendoza and pan drummer Arturo Fernandez in Mexico City on Saturday, November 30, Stephen Hamm Theremin man performs with his new space family band In Vancouver, BC, Canada on December 7, the Georgia Salzburg society presents its annual Christmas tea at the Ebenezer Museum, featuring the theremin music of Philip niedlinger. Also on December 7, Miss Terry will present an Advent music recital for Theremin and church organ in a house Germany. For details about these events and more. Check out the full calendar at Theremin thirty.com up next, I have a recent track from French recording artist Charlotte DuBois. She makes wonderful use of loopers and synthesizers to accompany Her Theremin melodies. This is called through the looking glass.

That was through the looking glass by Charlotte Dubois, featuring a Moog ether wave pro Theremin and an Arturia Mini freak synthesizer. You can find Charlotte's wonderful music video for through the looking glass on the theremin 30 YouTube playlist.

Professional classical thereminist Thorwald Jorgensen has a new album set for release later this month. He spoke with me about it a few days ago from his home in the Netherlands. Thank you so much for being on the theremin 30 Podcast. I'm happy to be there. Yeah, it's great to have you back. It's been a couple of years, but we did see each other in June in Denmark at the International Theremin camp. 

Thorwald Jørgensen  13:00  
Yes. Wasn't that a blast? It was amazing, wasn't it? 

Rick Reid  13:03  
It was so much fun. And I was just fascinated how you could come in and learn a new piece in a matter of four days and then perform it live. 

Thorwald Jørgensen  13:15  
Yeah, yeah. We got the score like, a few days before, and just play and do it. It's uh, that's the job, of course. 

Rick Reid  13:22  
While we were there, you mentioned that you have a new album coming out soon, and that's why you're on the show this month. So tell me about Nui exotic. That's my very bad American accent of a French title.

Thorwald Jørgensen  13:36  
The title is Nui exotic. The album is coming out this month, or maybe early December, and it's a little bit different than the previous one, because with the previous one, we decided to go completely original Theremin music. So so everything was originally written for Theremin, and with this album, it's the opposite. We play pieces written for other instruments on Theremin, for instance, we play nui xotique by block, which is a tricky piece, but it works beautifully on theremin. And we just wanted to have an album with beautiful music played to the best of our abilities, and add some exotic touch. So the overall exotic touch, of course, is the theremin, because that in itself, is an exotic instrument, but we decided on new exotic was the first piece we decided on, and we found pieces which fitted that type of music, at least I'm happy with with the end result, we have a nice selection of pieces which suit the theremin very well. And some pieces are familiar because I played two pieces from Clara robmos repertoire, the ravel Habanera and casado Rick ebros, but for the rest, most of it is new and never played before on theremin. So I hope everybody will like it.

Rick Reid  14:53  
I'm curious about your process. Do you learn the songs and perform them live first and then go into the story? Studio, or are you kind of experimenting in the studio as you're recording?

Thorwald Jørgensen  15:04  
There's no time for experimenting because the studio is booked for two days, and it has to be done in that time set. So what we do with my pianist? Of course, we have a regular duo. We perform often, we decide on pieces and we try them if it works, we keep them if it doesn't work, or we should improve on it, or whatever, we work on it, and that's how we come to a program. And then, of course, we rehearse that, we practice it, and we make sure that we can do it to the best of our ability. And then you have two days in the studio just to record it. So it has to be done quick. Unfortunately,

Rick Reid  15:38  
you have the piano and Theremin, are you multi tracking that in the recording studio, or is it a live performance that you're recording? 

Thorwald Jørgensen  15:46  
We record live. We play in a concert hall, obviously. So we have the beautiful acoustics of the hall, and we have microphones everywhere, so everything is recorded. Then in the end, if there's a, for instance, imbalance problem, things can be adjusted in a mix. But in general, it's a live performance. What you place, what you hear 

Rick Reid  16:06  
when you're recording the theremin Are you recording the direct signal out and a microphone on a PA speaker, and then you mix the two together?

Thorwald Jørgensen  16:16  
I'm not that technical, but I know the recording engineer puts put a cable into my Theremin to have a direct output, and maybe it's mixed. Maybe it's not, I don't know. For me, what I think is important is that it sounds like the way we do in concert. It should be. It should have a live energy. Because if you record separately, you record different energies, and now we play together, so we record the same energy, and I think that is audible in what we present in the in the album. It really is concert music. So we play it as a concert.

Rick Reid  16:51  
So I was listening to another recording of the title track, nui exotic, done with violin and piano. And I, I was wondering, when you're learning a new piece that was not written for Theremin, are you listening to other recordings to get a feel for the the expressions and timing and so on, or is it something that you just work on on your own?

Thorwald Jørgensen  17:16  
I do listen to it, but I listen in the beginning. So so I listen if I like, if I see sheet music, if I like, if I find a piece which I think is interesting, I look it up, I listen to it, and I listen to one or three versions, but if I decide to play it myself, I don't listen to any recordings anymore, because I don't want to copy anything or anybody. And if I have some ideas of about phrasing, I can do this with my penis. Or also I have a coach, a violin coach, who sometimes helps me with phrasing or vibrato. So we work on it as as she would do on a on a regular instrument, and not copy what, what, a violinist is doing, because that will never work. You have to find your own way within the music. And if you, if you listen to the new exiting on the violin, you will hear that I don't, didn't make any arrangement. I play, literally, the violin score. I play anything as written as it was for violin. But then on Theremin,

Rick Reid  18:23  
the idea of having a violin coach help, because I definitely don't play at your level, as you know, but I have to learn a melody on piano before I can usually play it well on the theremin there's because piano was my first instrument, and so it makes more sense to me that way. So it's interesting that that you have somebody who's maybe doesn't even know how to play the theremin is helping you to play the theremin. 

Thorwald Jørgensen  18:47  
It doesn't matter, because it doesn't it's not about theremin. It's about music. Theremin is just secondary. In this case, we discuss phrasing and we discuss vibrato, and how you use vibrato, or where you don't use vibrato. So it's more of a musical coach. She could have also have been a trumpet player or a flute player. It doesn't matter. She happens to play the violin. And sometimes we just, it's not, not very often, but every now and then we come together, and I say, Oh, listen to this. And what do you think? And then she says, Well, if you would play it on a violin, it would sound like this. And then she shows me, and then it gives me new ideas. So that gives me, gives me more ideas than listen to any recording of any artist, because I can never copy them as they can ever copy me. It's personal. 

Rick Reid  19:37  
I think a lot of people, including myself, who aren't frequent listeners of classical music, we know the loud, pompous, familiar Premier, familiar tunes like the 1812 Overture and things like that. And this is this is very different and a very pleasant and surprising way for someone who's not as familiar with the repertoire of some of these composers.

Thorwald Jørgensen  20:03  
it's chamber music. First of all, it's not orchestral music, as you say with the 1812 Overture, which, of course, is this big piece with cannons and fireworks and trumpets, and I don't know what else is in there, this is your chamber music. So it in itself, is already much smaller because we're only two people, although piano is, of course, a very big instrument, yeah, but it's, it's just beautiful music. That's, I think, foremost, is what I think of this album is beautiful music. And if I played, well, that's up to you guys to decide and if you like the music. But in the compositions, in itself, are just beautiful and nice to listen to.

Rick Reid  20:43  
How do you and Kamilla, your pianist, decide when it's time to make a new album? 

Thorwald Jørgensen  20:49  
We have a contract with a recording studio where we can do four albums. Or at least I have the contract. So it's a matter of planning and schedules coming together. Because I have a busy schedule, she has a busy schedule. Recording Studio has a busy chat schedule, so it has to fit and yeah, so that's why this one took a little longer. But the next one, we will be recorded in March, so that the new one will be will not wait, will you don't have to wait as long as you did for this one.

Rick Reid  21:23  
So who do you find is your audience for your albums, as opposed to say, your live performances? Is it a different audience?

Thorwald Jørgensen  21:31  
I have no idea, because I don't know who listens to it on Spotify. They go also in music stores. But there are hardly any music stores, any left, so I don't know who picks it up there. I do know that after concerts, usually a lot of people still want to have an album. We sell them, but that's to the audience, so they already know who I am and what I play. And for the rest, I have no idea it's out there, and I hope some people like it, at least I'm very proud of it.

Rick Reid  22:02  
Well, thank you so much for being on Theremin 30. I wish you great luck with the release of the new album, and hopefully we'll get a chance to see you perform again sometime soon. Thank you so much to world. The organ says new album Nui exotic will be available in all the usual places beginning in late November. For more details, visit his website by following the link in this month's show notes at Theremin thirty.com I've also included a video performance of Claire de Lune from the new album on the Youtube playlist. And torworld and Camila bistrova have a concert scheduled for November 24 in Middleburg, Netherlands. There's a link to ticket information on this month's calendar of events. Let's finish the show with music from the new album. Here is Nui com or a quiet night by Dutch composer Henrietta Bosmans, performed by Thorwald Jorgensen and Kamilla Bystrova.

Thanks so much to Annaglyph, Kepa Lehtinen, Charlotte Dubois and Thorwald Jorgensen for sharing their wonderful Music with us. Please support all these artists by purchasing their recordings, attending their concerts and following them on social media. Also, thanks to Thorwald for visiting with me about his new album, nui exotique. And as always, a special thanks to the listeners who support this series with small, one time or monthly donations that help me cover my expenses. I'll be back soon with another 30 minutes of Theremin music and interviews. Until then, I'll see you somewhere in the ether.

David Brower  29:49  
You've been listening to the theremin 30 podcast. Visit Theremin 30 on the web at Theremin30.com.
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[S05E07] March 2024 - Ernesto Mendoza



The March 2024 episode of the Theremin 30 podcast features theremin music from France, Spain, Japan, and Mexico. Host Rick Reid interviews thereminist Ernesto Mendoza.


FEATURED MUSIC*

*The full-length recordings featured in this show were used with the knowledge and permission of the artists and composers. Please support the artists by visiting their websites, purchasing their recordings, and attending their performances. 

ADDITIONAL MUSIC

INTERVIEW GUEST

CALENDAR OF THEREMIN EVENTS

MEDIA LINKS

SUPPORT THIS PODCAST

CONTACT

CREDITS 

Copyright 2024 Rick Reid 


--------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIPT

Please note: This transcript was created with the help of speech-to-text AI.  It may contain some errors.

David Brower  0:04  
This is Theremin 30. 30 minutes of Fairmined music news events and interviews with a new episode about every 30 days. Now here's your host from Denver, Colorado, USA, Rick Reid.

Rick Reid  0:20  
Hey, welcome to the March 2024 episode of the Theremin 30 podcast. I'm your host, Rick Reid and I haven't had an episode for a while. Among other things, I got COVID Again, but I'm feeling much better now. Coming up in this episode of COP music from France, Spain, Japan and Mexico, and visit with Ernesto Mendoza about his new album. Let's start the show now with a couple of European therapists first it's a recent track from Charlotte Dubois with a special guest and then something brand new from Javier Diaz Aina under a different artists name. I'll give you the details about both recordings on the other side.

We started the show with a song called Boucle La by thereminist, Charlotte Dubois and beatbox artist black Adobo translated from French the song is appropriately titled loop it. The duo released a very cool music video for this song in November of last year. Be sure to check it out on the Theremin 30 YouTube playlist. I follow that with a track called Liana de cuccia which roughly translates as laid vines. It's a brand new single release from tremor Nocta music project of Javier Diaz Aina as you heard for yourself, it's a darker, more intense electronic sound compared to the lounge and exotic music he's done in recent years. The full tremor Nocta album will be available on CD starting March 6. After the break, I'll take a look at the Theremin 30 calendar and play an exclusive new single edit from Yoko Ohnishi. So stay tuned

It's time now for the Theramin 30 calendar of Theremin events. On March 2 My interview guests Ernesto Mendoza has a concert in Mexico City, Clara Rockmore His birthday is March 9, so play a favorite Theremin tune in her honor. On March 10 Arturo Fernandez will be performing in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. There are also performances coming soon from Pamela Stickney follow paths guav tour while Jorgensen and human toys so check out the full calendar for details at Theremin thirty.com. Also, I do want to mention one news item before we move on. I got a newsletter from Kip Rosser about the Juliette Shaw legacy project. He says that the archiving part of the project has been completed. And now they're looking for a museum or university or other institution to host the archive. In the meantime, the website's been updated, and it may not be around for long depending on where the archive ends up. So if you haven't visited the Giulia shell Legacy Project website recently, be sure to do that soon. I'll have a link in this month's show notes. A couple of years ago Yoko Ohnishi created a wonderfully spacey interpretation of Paco Bell's canon indeed, that features her remote ether wave pro and a boss loop station. The whole song is nearly 10 minutes long, so it's not really a good fit for my 30 minute podcast. Fortunately, she just created a single edit exclusively for the show. So here is Yoko Ohnishi with Canon in D

That was an exclusive single edit of Canon in D by Yoko Onishi. You can listen to the full length track on her 2022 album All Theremin too. It's also available to stream from her YouTube page. After this break, I'll visit with Ernesto Mendoza. So stay tuned

One of the first artists I played when I started the podcast almost five years ago was Mexico City multi instrumentalist Ernesto Mendoza, he just released a new album with reworked versions of songs from his previous releases. So I talked with him a couple of weeks ago to find out all about it. And when esto Mendoza thank you so much for being on the Theremin 30 podcast, I've been playing your music on the show, so I'm glad to finally have the opportunity to visit with you. 

Ernesto Mendoza  18:05  
Thank you, first of all for the support you have been given me. And second, I am very glad to be in your show.

Rick Reid  18:14  
I invited you to the show to talk about your new album called synth Theremin. But first I want to learn more about your musical background. How are you introduced to the Theremin

Ernesto Mendoza  18:24  
I discovered the Theremin more or less in 1998 I was studying audio engineering course. And that feature told us about the origins of electronic music. And then he spoke about the the Theremin the on the Smarty note and all the old electronic instruments. So that's when I discovered a Theremin. And I was fascinated by the magic of the instrument, the history and things like that. And I start to investigate by my own. And that's how I discovered the Theramin in those days.

Rick Reid  19:08  
Do you play other instruments besides that Theremin?

Ernesto Mendoza  19:11  
My main instrument is the bass. Oh, and I sing and I play a little bit keyboard and some guitar too.

Rick Reid  19:20  
I was curious about playing live versus recording what what inspired you to go to that next level and start making records.

Ernesto Mendoza  19:27  
It was a necessity of playing my own music because at first I was playing just covers different styles. I played classical music, some that stamp just standard music of the Beatles Mexican Bolero and so on as a necessity to go further I have in mind to create my own music and in those days is very important to have the music for the world for the net world. So I decided to compose and record add my own music, specifically for playing the Theremin as the melodic voice

Rick Reid  20:06  
some of the tracks I've been playing on the show over the last year, have you collaborating with musical partners percussionist synthesis. And I was curious if you have a preference between working with other musicians or doing solo work by yourself, 

Ernesto Mendoza  20:23  
I like to do both. I love to collaborate with another musician as much as possible. And I love to record I love to being in Studio. I do have a small recording studio here at home. So I tried to experiment. But to play live as a musical partner as much as I can. It is very important to me, in order to promote the Theremin in my country, and melodic boys capable to do different styles of music. I do like to play Latin American music. So I am open to do different kinds of projects

Rick Reid  21:05  
on your new album. Some of the titles seem familiar. A lot of the songs were on your 2018 album called Cosmo, which actually I played in the very first episode of my podcast. Why did you decide to rerecord these earlier songs?

Ernesto Mendoza  21:18  
Yeah, in fact, there are three different versions of the same music. Oh, yes. I decided to do another version in order to improve my Theremin playing, you know, okay, I was not very satisfied with the two previous version and the sound. So I decided during pandemic days, to rerecord and to work on a new version and improving my performance. 

Rick Reid  21:47  
Besides your Theremin performance, how are these songs different from the original versions? 

Ernesto Mendoza  21:52  
In the first version, it sounds more like demo. It was recorded in my small multitrack Portastudio. It sounds more like they're more and still have the same name same thirimanne Because it was the mix of synthesizer and Theremin. It was a physical version in our physical city, and then I was not very happy with the results. So in 2018, my friend Oscar Rivero act as a producer of the second version, it was called Cosmo, a different name. And with a different production, I only focus in keyboard performance and synthesizer performance and record determing. But Oscar was the producer. And then the third version was recorded in pandemic days, I decided to have different timbers different sounds and improving my thermal performance. So you can hear different sounds different production, but it's the same music, but I think it's more like techno version.

Rick Reid  23:06  
Do you have a favorite song on the new album?

Ernesto Mendoza  23:08  
I have a favorite to perform live because it was the first song I did. That is seen as this year. This is the first song I ever created for Theremin so I think I have a special love for the song. But I love them all.

Rick Reid  23:26  
What was the biggest challenge for you in creating the new album, especially considering that this was done during the pandemic lockdown?

Speaker 1  23:33  
The big challenge was trying to sound a little different to the previous recordings I had in mind to create something that I can reproduce life trying to figure out how can I playing live in order to sound more or less the same that in the introduction?

Rick Reid  23:55  
I really like the bass synthesizer lines in this new album. Are those being made with the actual keyboard synthesizer or is it something you're doing in software on your computer?

Ernesto Mendoza  24:05  
There are both that are virtual instruments and live instruments. As an example, I use reason program to the beat to construct the skeleton of the beasts. Or then I have hardware synthesizers. I use Novation synthesizer, the Core M S 20, meno cool, and I use the bass pedal power rule smoked out.

Rick Reid  24:35  
Oh, you have a Taurus? I am jealous. 

Ernesto Mendoza  24:37  
Yes, yes, I just I just love the instrument because my influence in this kind of music and in general is the progressive rock music. So I am a big fan of you know, Geddy Lee and Greg Lake and those music Chris Squire, of course, Chris. And I just wanted to make Make a small rendition to my bass heroes. This kind of sounds up with the bass pedal. And I use the Moog prodigy synthesizer. And obviously my Theramin.

Rick Reid  25:13  
You mentioned performing this music live. I imagine it's pretty difficult to play. So how do you adapt it to a live performance,

Ernesto Mendoza  25:23  
this is a real challenge. And I am very glad to do this work because it's not only to perform the Theremin life, but also adding some more attractive and play the keyboards too. So the first thing was to arrange the live setup with the Theremin and a combination of the synthesizers and how I can set my equipment in order to play with a good level of proficiency. Because you know, playing the Theremin is very difficult playing determine well in tune and with a good performance. Even more, if you add the synthesizers, it's another challenge. So with a lot of practice doing everyday rehearsals and adding the basic tracks for accompaniment,

Rick Reid  26:16  
so you don't use a live band to back you up then

Ernesto Mendoza  26:19  
 I have been using music guests as another keyboard or maybe a drummer or a guitar player. But most of the time I prefer to play by my by myself with my basic tracks, and my Thurman and bass pedal. And I'm determined.

Rick Reid  26:38  
Thank you so much for the time that you've taken to visit with me and congratulations on the release of the new album. I look forward to more music from you to play on the show.

Ernesto Mendoza  26:47  
Sure. Thank you very much, Rick. It was a real pleasure to be with you. 

Rick Reid  26:52  
You can listen to sin Theremin music for Theremin and synthesizer now on most streaming services, including iHeartRadio, Spotify and Deezer. Let's finish the show now with a full track from the new album. Here is Ernesto Mendoza with st that the Mobius or Mobius strip

So I want to wrap up by thanking Charlotte Dubois and black Adobo tremor knock da Yoko Ohnishi and Ernesto Mendoza for sharing their music with us. Also thanks to Ernesto for allowing me to interview him. And a big thank you goes out to the listeners who support this show with small one time or monthly donations, or by shopping in that Theremin 30 Pro Shop and merch store on the website. I'll be back soon with another episode of the Theremin 30 podcast as we start season six. Thanks to all of you who have been with me from the beginning and I hope you will continue to go along with me for the ride.

David Brower  30:41  
You've been listening to the Theremin 30 podcast. visit Theremin 30 on the web at Theremin 30 dot com
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[S04E06] January 2023 - Conall Gleeson and Alexx Mazonowicz

 

Alexx Mazonowicz and Conall Gleeson



In the January 2023 episode of the Theremin 30 podcast, host Rick Reid plays theremin music from the USA, France, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. Rick's special guests are Music Director Conall Gleeson (right) and Thereminist/keyboardist Alexx Mazonowicz (left) of the New Note Orchestra. They will be performing in Brighton, England on February 14th.

FEATURED MUSIC*

*The full-length recordings featured in this show were used with the knowledge and permission of the artists and composers. Please support the artists by visiting their websites, purchasing their recordings, and attending their performances. 

ADDITIONAL MUSIC

INTERVIEW GUEST

CALENDAR OF THEREMIN EVENTS

MEDIA LINKS

SUPPORT THIS PODCAST

CONTACT

CREDITS 

Copyright 2023 Rick Reid 


--------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIPT

Please note: This transcript was created with the help of speech-to-text AI.  It may contain some errors.

David Brower  00:04

This is "Theremin 30," thirty minutes of theremin music, news, events, and interviews, with a new episode about every 30 days. Now, here is your host from Denver, Colorado, USA -- Rick Reid.

Rick Reid  00:20

Hey, welcome to the January 2023 episode of the Theremin 30 podcast. I'm your host, Rick Reid, back after taking some time off to concentrate on other projects. I hope you missed me because I have to admit, I did miss you.

This episode is one you won't want to miss, because I have new theremin music from the USA, France, Mexico, and England.  And my special guests are Conall Gleeson and Alexx Mazonowicz from the New Note Orchestra.  They will be playing a concert in the Brighton, England, area on Valentine's Day.

To get things started, I am going to play a song that first appeared on the Octopus Project's 2007 album "Hello, Avalanche." I played it once before, back in September of 2021. This time around, though, it's a new arrangement recorded last April in the Moog Sound Lab in Asheville, North Carolina, to showcase the redesigned Moog Etherwave theremin. Yvonne Lambert plays the Etherwave in the traditional way, and bandmate Toto Miranda uses another Etherwave as a CV controller for a Moog Matriarch synthesizer. Here is The Octopus Project with "I Saw the Bright Shinies."

Rick Reid  08:51

"We started the show with The Octopus Project with their reworking of  "I Saw the Bright Shinies" recorded in the Moog Sound Lab. You can watch their video on the Theremin 30 YouTube playlist. After that, I played a brand new live-looping performance by French multi-instrumentalist and composer Charlotte Dubois. Charlotte performed that piece with a Moog Claravox theremin and a Moog Grandmother synthesizer. You can see her performance on the Theremin 30 YouTube playlist as well. There is a link to the playlist in this month's show notes at Theremin30.com. 

After a short break, I'll be back with the Theremin 30 calendar, some theremin news headlines, and a new recording featuring Ernesto Mendoza. And later in the show, I'll visit with Conall Gleeson and Alexx Mazonowicz from the New Note Orchestra. So, stay tuned!

Rick Reid  09:54

It's time now for a look at the Theremin 30 calendar of theremin events!  

Aleks Schurmer is featured in the soundtrack of the new French-language movie "Mistral Spatial," now playing in theaters in Montreal, Canada.

On January 27th, Yoko Onishi hosts the monthly RCA Theremin evening on YouTube.

On January 28th in New Bedford, Massachusetts, James Bohn will present a lecture and theremin demonstration prior to the Magic of Disney concert by the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra.

On February 8th, Thorwald Jorgensen performs in Montreal, Canada, and About Aphrodite has a concert in Hamburg, Germany.

Over the weekend of February 10th, Dorit Chrysler and Charles Hobbs will present a series of events in Graz, Austria, to celebrate the opening of the "Calder Plays Theremin" art installation.

And on Valentine's Day, the New Note Orchestra will be performing in the town of Hove near Brighton, England. We'll hear more about that later in the show.

For details about these events and more, check out the interactive calendar on Theremin30.com.

I also want to take a moment to share a couple of recent news items with you.

First of all, congratulations to Icelandic recording artist Hekla Magnusdottir for earning Album of the Year honors in the Rekyavik Gravevine music awards.

Also, thereminist Kip Rosser is helping raise awareness and funding for the Juliet Shaw Legacy Project, a campaign to preserve the archives of one of America's earliest professional thereminists. You can find details about the project by following the link in this month's show notes.

Now, let's get back to more music with a very cool new track from "Tharsis Project" featuring Ernesto Mendoza and Jon Carr.  This is called "Time Traveller."

Rick Reid  16:08

That was "Time Traveller," a new recording from "Tharsis Project" featuring Ernesto Mendoza on theremin and synthesizers and Jon Carr on drums. You can learn more about the artists by clicking on their names in this month's show notes.

Coming up after this break, I'll visit with Conall Gleeson and Alexx Mazonowicz from Brighton, England's New Note Orchestra, so stay right here.

Rick Reid  16:57

The New Note Orchestra is an eclectic music ensemble based in Brighton, England, that uses musical collaboration to help people in recovery from addiction. I recently visited with their music director Conall Gleeson and their keyboard and theremin player Alex Mazonavich, to find out how this most unusual charity organization works and how they incorporate the theremin in their live concert performances.

Conall Gleeson  17:02
Yeah, thank you for having us.

Alexx Mazonowicz  17:26
Thanks for inviting. 

Rick Reid  17:28
Conall, you're the music director?

Conall Gleeson  17:30
That's right. I've been working with New Note Orchestra since 2016. And what an amazing journey it has been for me. 

Rick Reid  17:37
And Alexx, you play keyboards and, of course, theremin. 

Alexx Mazonowicz  17:41
Yep, that's right. 

Rick Reid  17:42
What is the New Note Orchestra? 

Conall Gleeson  17:45
Well, New Note Orchestra was set up in 2015. Its focus is to attract people who are in recovery from drugs and substance abuse and using music as a way to sustain their sobriety and their well being. What we do is try to develop those persons as musicians. They've had a whole journey where they self-identified and come to terms with their addiction. People want to move on from that kind of way of self-identifying. And we help them self-identify as musicians, so they come as addicts and become musicians. And that's how we like to see it. 

Rick Reid  18:17
So, Alexx, how did you get involved with the orchestra? 

Alexx Mazonowicz  18:20
I am in recovery. And I have been in recovery for almost 15 years and a couple of months it will be since I had my last drink. I joined in 2020, about a month before we all locked down actually for COVID. It was just after I'd moved to Brighton, but I heard about the group from a friend in another recovery group. Somebody just mentioned to me about the orchestra. And I looked it up online and kind of liked what they were doing. And I listened to some of the music. I was quite impressed by it. And so I just found out where they were practicing. And I turned up one Tuesday in February 2020 With my theremin under my arm just basically where do I plug in? 

Rick Reid  18:34
What was that like to have a thereminist show up? 

Conall Gleeson  19:01
Oh, it was so weird because primarily we've got lot of people play guitars, we've got people doing keyboards, and we also have a multitude of people playing hand chimes. So when a theremin arrived at the door with Alexx I was thinking, well, how are we going to work this one into our sonic ambience? But Alexx has proved to be very versatile and imaginative with his theremin. And it's been a blessing and a wonderful addition to the orchestra. 'Cause it can do two things: it can play melodies, it also can add these strange textures to the sound that we make, you know. So that's really fantastic. 

Rick Reid  19:35
I guess we should define the word orchestra because the New Note Orchestra is not a traditional symphony orchestra. 

Conall Gleeson  19:42
It's called an orchestra because it's quite large in size, a bit larger than an ensemble or a band, though might have 20 to 25 persons so it kind of in size and embodiment constitutes an orchestra. That's where the name originally was come from, but we might call ourselves an electric orchestra. 'Cause we're plugged in, we're amplified. And we're a lot of guitars, we've got some wind instruments. And we've got lots of synths and we've got a theremin, yeah.\ 

Alexx Mazonowicz  20:06
I think orchestra, though, is a good description of the ambition of what we're trying to do. I think if we just called ourselves a group, a lot of people would be expecting a rock group or something like that. Whereas with an orchestra, there's this idea of something big and very long, ambitious pieces, that we did. So, it works for me. 

Conall Gleeson  20:24
Yeah. 

Rick Reid  20:26
I'm curious, from your point of view, Alexx, how you find your place in the orchestra. And I mean that both sort of philosophically as a thereminist, and also practically, where you need space around your instrument to be able to perform it correctly. 

Alexx Mazonowicz  20:34
One of the reasons I joined was because I wanted to play my theremin with a group, right? And I think that's a problem that a lot of thereminists I've spoken to have is that they spend a lot of time practicing at home, maybe playing to backing tracks, or tracks that they recorded themselves. Whereas I used to play electric guitar in alternative bands, and I missed playing with other people. And I've always liked to be a little bit different, right? Why would we choose such a difficult and weird instrument if we didn't like being different? So philosophically, where I like to fit within the group when I'm on theremin is kind of by bringing different textures to it. I play a Claravox now. I've got the delayed circuit on it. And it's got the different settings on it, which are really useful for bringing new textures in. And we do one piece in which people are playing recorders and stuff to emulate birds. And I like to actually break the rules and touch the pitch antenna with my fingers to try and make that chirping sound. Also, the Claravox has the white noise circuit on. I've used the software app to connect the pitch antenna to the filter. The Claravox has got that very beautiful Moog filter on it, to try and create kind of a wind effect. And you put that with some delay. So I can get a lot of textures that way. And that's really interesting, because when I started playing Ttheremin seriously, which was only about five years ago, I wanted to kind of get away from using it as a sound effects machine, which you know there's a little snobbery within the theremin community used for sound effects, which I kind of agree with to a point because when you can get melodies out of it they're very beautiful, but you know, in the orchestra situation, you give what you can, and I'm playing with other people. And sometimes it's really nice to be able to do that. 

Conall Gleeson  20:38
When we perform, we've kind of scripted our pieces. But when we get together, and we're collaborating, we're all improvising, and we're responding to the sounds other instruments make. So in that respect, it's really exciting then, finding how a theremin might blend and to add an interesting texture to a guitar drone, or to get to the theremin to sound like a percussion instrument. When we collaborate or meet every Tuesday, we're exploring these different ways that a stheremin might work with the rest of the orchestra. 

Rick Reid  22:53
I can imagine situations where you have to tell Alexx, you know, we don't really need a theremin in this song. 

Conall Gleeson  23:01
That's part of the flexibility and the genius of Alexx because he can also play the keyboard. It's never a case that we don't need a theremin. But it's often the case that we need someone to do some of the synth work. And then that's where Alexx brings in his expertise as well, because he's so talented. He's got such a wide range of skills, you know. Got to use them all. 

Alexx Mazonowicz  23:19
You flatter, you flatter me so, Conall. Going back to what you were talking about actual space. I think in the early days, I set my theremin up when we rehearsed, actually quite apart from everyone. And I'd be playing and people would come up and go, Oh, what's that? And, you know, obviously, the pitch would suddenly change. On stage it's been okay, I sometimes have to tune the pitch antenna quite tight, just to kind of make sure that nobody else gets into range. But we're a big group, so we have to have big spaces to play in anyway. 

Conall Gleeson  23:54
Ironically, the theremin takes up a lot of space doesn't it? 

Rick Reid  24:00
Also you have to have an amplifier. So how does that work? 

Alexx Mazonowicz  24:04
We've already got people playing bass guitars and electric guitars and we've got like rock drummers in there as well. So generally people are kind of fighting the volume. But Conall does a fantastic job of actually getting people to turn down. For me, learning to sit back a little bit whether I'm playing theremin or keyboards, there's been a really big learning experience. actually learning to step back a bit in the mix. It's been really good. But again, I've got a Claravox so I can always plug some headphones in. I can monitor the pitch on a pitch pedal. And I do have a small practice amp, and I'll use that sometimes at a low volume just to make sure I can hear. 

Rick Reid  24:44
Now you have a show coming up in February called Love Fest. Tell me about that. 

Alexx Mazonowicz  24:50
Love Fest, yeah. Well that's on Valentine's Day and we are playing in a church down the road with a few other artists from Brighton, but it's an alternative love show. So it's not just about romantic love. We're talking about brotherly love. We're talking about lots of different types of love. And we've got some kind of alternative love poems that we're going to be reading over our normal repertoire. But yes, an alternative Valentine's evening. 

Rick Reid  25:18
Thank you very much for taking the time to visit with me and I wish you good luck with the concert coming up. Love is always a good thing. And music is always a good thing. 

Conall Gleeson  25:27
Yeah, thank you. And I love your show. It's great. 

Alexx Mazonowicz  25:30
Yeah, it's fantastic. Thank you very much for everything you do, Rick.

Rick Reid  25:33

If you live in southern England, make a date to see the New Note Orchestra's Love Fest concert on Valentine's Day. Follow the link on the Theremin 30 calendar for details. Also, check out the New Note Orchestra website at newnote.co.uk.

Now with the time remaining, let's listen to an excerpt from a new experimental music piece by Modulight, a collaboration between thereminist Chris Conway and synthesist Jez Creek. From their recently released second album, "Liminal Vision," here is "Primordial Descent."

Rick Reid  29:06

Thank you so much to the Octopus Project, Charlotte Dubois, Tharsis Project, and Modulight for allowing me to share their music with you. Also, a big thanks to Conall Gleeson and Alexx Mazonavich from the New Note Orchestra for visiting with me. And a special thanks goes to the folks who support my efforts with small one-time and monthly donations and by shopping in the Theremin 30 online merch store and pro shop.  

If you'd like to get involved with this podcast, I'm always on the lookout for new, professional quality theremin music to play on the show and expert guests to interview.  So, reach me through the contact form on the website.

Until next time, I'm your host Rick Reid. I'll see you somewhere in the ether.

David Brower  29:50

You've been listening to the "Theremin 30" podcast. Visit Theremin 30 on the web at Theremin30.com.
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[S04E03] July 2022 - Charlotte Dubois

 


In the July 2022 episode of the Theremin 30 podcast, host Rick Reid plays theremin music from Germany, Iceland, Japan, France, and Australia. Rick interviews thereminist/pianist Charlotte Dubois about her new album Gamme de couleurs. 

▶️ Listen to this episode on your favorite podcast platform.

FEATURED MUSIC*

  • "What the Eye Doesn't See" - Donna Maya (Berlin, Germany)
  • "Enn og Aftur" - Hekla (Reykjavík, Iceland)
  • "Ombra mai fu" - Yoko Onishi (Zushi, Japan) 
  • "Peak Body" - Miles Brown (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)
*The full-length recordings featured in this show were used with the knowledge and permission of the artists and composers. Please support the artists by visiting their websites, purchasing their recordings, and attending their performances. 

ADDITIONAL MUSIC

INTERVIEW GUEST

CALENDAR OF THEREMIN EVENTS

MEDIA LINKS

SUPPORT THIS PODCAST

CONTACT

CREDITS 

Copyright 2022 Rick Reid 


--------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIPT

This transcript was generated with an AI speech-to-text system. It may contain errors.

David Brower  00:04

This is Theremin 3030 minutes of Fairmined music news events and interviews with a new episode about every 30 days. Now here's your host from Denver, Colorado, USA, Rick Reid.

 

Rick Reid  00:19

Hey there, welcome to the July 2022 episode of the Theremin 30 Podcast. I'm Rick Reid and I've been your host for more than three years now. And normally, I'm trying to publish the episodes around the first day of each month. But I got distracted by some other projects recently and or the desire to just take a long nap under my air conditioner. Here in Denver, Colorado. Today, we set a record for the highest high temperature for this date. And this morning, we actually set a record for the highest low temperature too. And I think I've got a pretty hot show for you this month. I'll play music from Donna Maya Hekla, Yoko Ohnishi Myles Brown, and my special guest, Charlotte Dubois, who will share highlights from her brand new self produced album Gamme de Couleur. Hopefully I pronounced that close enough. Let's start off the first set of Music in this episode with the track that I can pronounce. This is called what the eye doesn't see it's by Berlin based recording artists Donna Maya. After that I'll spin a short but sinister track from the upcoming new heckler album. And I'll tell you more about both of those recordings on the other side.

 

Rick Reid  07:52

We started the show with Donna Maya and a track called what the eye doesn't see. It's part of an 85 song compilation album called Save Ukraine. You can download it from Bandcamp for a donation of four euros or more, and the proceeds go to the Red Cross to support their humanitarian aid efforts in Ukraine. There's a link to the album in this month's show notes at Theremin thirty.com. And after that, I played a rather chilling soundscape by Hekla called N O AF dish, which translates to English as yet again. It's part of a new album of doom and gloom soundscapes by Hekla set for release in September called Xiuxiuejar which is a Catalan word meaning whisper check out the appropriately creepy video for that track on the Theremin 30 YouTube playlist. After this break, I'll take a look at the Theremin 30 calendar and I have new music from Yoko Onishi so stay tuned

 

Rick Reid  09:00

It's time now for a look at the Theremin 30 calendar of Theremin events. Marla Goodman continues her Theremin Thursday's performances in Bozeman, Montana through the end of July on her front porch. Stephen Ham has a couple of shows this weekend in the Vancouver BC area. The divine hand ensemble has a full slate of performances over the next several weeks to promote their new Aria 51 album. Saturday July 23rd would have been Dr. Samuel Hoffman's 99th birthday. Karolina Ike is the featured soloist at the BBC Proms concert at London's Royal Albert Hall on August 4. For more details about these events and more, check out the interactive calendar on Theremin thirty.com. And if you have an event you'd like me to put on the calendar, send me all the details through the website, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Also on the calendar Yoko Onishi hosts her monthly RCA Theremin evening on Saturday. July 23, from her home in Japan, because of the timezone differences it actually plays late Friday night here in the Western Hemisphere, but you can catch a replay anytime after the live show airs on YouTube. This month she will be demoing the Claravox Centennial Theremin's patch editing software. Yoko Onishi has been working on a follow-up to her All Theremin album she released in 2017. Here's a preview single from all Theremin to it's called Ombra mai fuo also known as the Largo from Xerxes by George Frederick Handel?

 

Rick Reid  13:53

That was Ombra mai fu or the Largo from Xerxes performed on the RCA Theremin and the Moog ether wave pro by Yoko Onishi. It's from her upcoming album All Theremin to there's more to come on that Theremin 30 podcast. Later in the show. I'll play a track off a cool Miles Brown album from a couple of years ago and up next I visit with French recording artist Charlotte DuBois. She has a colorful new album out now and she will tell us all about it so stick around.

 

Rick Reid  14:53

Charlotte Dubois is a wonderful thereminist MP and is based in Lila France.

 

Rick Reid  15:03

Last month she self released a lovely album on Bandcamp called Gam declare, or something close to that. I asked her to be on the show and there was a bit of a language barrier as you might suspect, so we couldn't record a live interview. Instead, I sent her a list of questions in English. She translated them then translated her written answers to English so she could read them aloud. What you're about to hear will be my questions and her answers, and it did together. Charlotte Dubois, thank you so much for joining me on Theremin 30.

 

Charlotte Dubois  15:39

Hello. Thank you for inviting me to participate at your podcast sermon. So it's always a pleasure to speak about ceremony.

 

Rick Reid  15:52

 I asked you to be on the show this month because you have a new album out called gamma coolair. According to Google translate in English, that would be range of colors, and each track is named after a different color. Before we talk about that, tell me your story about how you became familiar with the Theremin.

 

Charlotte Dubois  16:11

I remember my father watching loads of fantastic and science fiction movies. And I love that the sound of Theremin often using these movies fascinated me

 

Charlotte Dubois  16:36

I always wanted one, but I never did to start. That's three and a half years ago, my fabulous companion decided to offer me one at a rave.

 

Rick Reid  16:50

What other instruments do you play? Do you have formal musical training?

 

Charlotte Dubois  16:54

I did 11 years of classical piano it was a rigorous formation. I had to pass two exams by here to validate my skills. I knew how to play Chopin, Brahms, but I was unable to compose myself. Classical way it's fantastic, but it doesn't open to creativity. When theobromine came in my life, it sounds totally my relationship to music.

 

Rick Reid  17:52

Your new album is called Gam dequeue there. What does that title mean to you? And how does it represent the music on the album?

 

Charlotte Dubois  18:01

The album gamba Kula, I have chosen to explore the emotions that emerged from the koulos its track is inspired by my personality story of universal feelings everyone is free to appropriate himself see emotion with his own experience

 

Rick Reid  18:41

what was your writing and recording process for example, did you compose on the piano first and arrange your composition to include the Theremin

 

Charlotte Dubois  18:51

It depends. Sometimes I have melodies that comes to me and I do first the piano composition and then second time I will add the layers of Theremin.

 

Charlotte Dubois  19:13

Sometimes it's totally the opposite, as I do lot of improvisation with Theremin one melody a match of that, and I record it first. For example. That's what happened for the bush song

 

Rick Reid  19:40

did you create the album at home or in a professional recording studio?

 

Charlotte Dubois  19:44

I do all the Recode and mix myself with my stuff and other

 

Rick Reid  19:49

than which Theremin models are featured on this album.

 

Charlotte Dubois  19:53

The two ceremonies that are used most of the time are theater with produce and the Clara book I really like theater rev it offers a lot of possibilities especially since jelly Frankel optimized it adding the recipe is our module it's really great but I love the Claravox too

 

Charlotte Dubois  20:19

me not the traditional mode but mme mode it's really magical because we can so much personalize the presets that the player can create is our musical senior to

 

Charlotte Dubois  20:57

as I got to happen to remain and that ceremony late in my creation process this to theremin I'll only answer song SEC law

 

Charlotte Dubois  21:27

by the way, this song was really fun to create because I enjoyed to add all of my therapy. There is even a little participation of material.

 

Rick Reid  21:38

Is there a song on the new album that was your favorite to compose and record?

 

Charlotte Dubois  21:43

it's very difficult to choose just one song because this change depending of my emotion, but I took lots of pleasure to compose lounge really, because I usually use lubra with my Theremin this time I reversed the rule

 

Charlotte Dubois  22:14

in French, the expression whether or not you lay means that we took a smash on the head. I would like to illustrate this moment in life where we accumulate subproblems and we fill in an infinite vortex. We are stunned, but we know that always will be alright.

 

Rick Reid  22:40

So how can people listen to your new album and purchase copies of it?

 

Charlotte Dubois  22:43

You can find my new album on Bandcamp profile Charlotte DuBois.

 

Charlotte Dubois  22:59

It costs seven euros 1000s They're gonna smile bomb. I prepare a bonus track to say thank you for all the sports is naming is it Ansel? is orange color.

 

Rick Reid  23:14

Do you plan to have any live concerts or streaming performances in the near future?

 

Charlotte Dubois  23:18

Actually, I do initiation of the remaining music school. I have a lovely project of concert in a beautiful place. But I can say more for the moment. If you want you can follow me on instagram i post often my improvisation of theremin and my actuality. My profile on Instagram is shallow. Abigail DuBois.

 

Rick Reid  23:44

Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful music and taking the time to visit with me.

 

Charlotte Dubois  23:49

 Oh, thank you a lot for the invitation. Rick, it's a real opportunity to speak about my new album. I put lots of love on it. And I am very excited to share it with you next year to a vivid Theremin.

 

Rick Reid  24:07

The new album by Charlotte Dubois is available now on Bandcamp and I have a link in this episode's show notes at Theremin thirty.com Now let's finish the episode with a recording from Myles Browns 2020 album The Gateway. It came out during the COVID 19 pandemic lockdown so it's only been this month that he's been able to perform music from the album live on stage. You'll next be performing at the Color Club in Melbourne on August 5. From the gateway album here is Myles brown with a track called peak body

 

Rick Reid  27:25

With the time remaining I want to thank Donna Maya Hekla Magnus daughter Yoko Ohnishi and Miles Brown for sharing their music. And a special thanks to Charlotte Dubois for being my guest this month and sharing her new album with us. Also a big thank you and Virtual hugs go to the listeners who support this show with small one time and monthly donations. I really appreciate your help. If you'd like to help out there is information on the website, Theremin thirty.com. There's also a merchandise store where you can pick up T shirts and bumper stickers and other fun things. So check that out. Until next time, I'm your host, Rick Reid. I'll see you again somewhere in the ether.

 

David Brower  29:50

You've been listening to the Theremin 30 podcast visit Theremin 30 on the web at Theremin 30 dot com

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