Lydia Kavina Is the Professional Performing Musician on Theremin

Lydia Kavina is the professional performing musician on theremin. She appeared at such prestigious venues as the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and Bolshoy Theatre,London Barbican and Royal Festival Hall, New York's Lincoln Center Festival, IRCAM and Chatelet Theatre in Paris, Hamburg Staatsopera and Amsterdam Concertgebouw.

She collaborated with such artists as Robert Wilson and Kirsten Delholm, composers Howard Shore, Olga Neuwirth and Lera Auerbach, conductors Vladimir Spivakov and Reinbert de Lewis.

Lydia played soundtracks for movies “Ed Wood”, “eXistenZ”, “Mashinist” and in numerous theatre productions, such as “Alice” and “Black Rider” by Tom Waits, “The little Mermaid” choreographed by John Neumeier, “Theremin” by Hotel pro Forma, “Baehllams Fest” by O. Neuwirth.

Mrs. Kavina solo CDs “Music from the Ether”, “Spellbound” includes original music for theremin by Bohuslav Martinu, Joseph Schillinger, Howard Shore, Percy Grainger, Misklos Rozsa, Vladimir Komarov and otheres.

Lydia’s appearances have a wide range of genres from arrangements of classic to experimental performance, improvisations and performing her own compositions, including a Concerto for theremin and orchestra.

Kavina is an active promoter of new experimental music for the theremin. Such is “Touch! Don't Touch!” project, commissioned 20 modern composers in writing contemporary pieces for the theremin.

Mrs. Kavina is strongly committed to the educational activities. She took part in organisation and lead several international theremin festivals and workshops in Russia, USA, England, Germany. Her video tutorial “Mastering the Theremin” recorded with Moog Music in1994 is widely used among beginning thereminists.

Born in Moscow, Lydia studied the theremin with the inventor Lev Theremin, who was cousin of her grandfather. Mrs. Kavina holds a degree in composition from the Moscow Conservatory, where she also accomplished a postgraduate assistantship program and taught the theremin at the studio of electronic music from 1998 till 2007.

Mrs. Kavina currently resides in the UK.