Theremin 100 - How the Future Began

The Radio Science Orchestra

The Radio Science Orchestra presents “How the Future Began”, an audio-visual performance which focuses on the inception and evolution of electronic music, from its electro-mechanical origins through to the modern digital age.

Celebrating the centenary of the invention of the Theremin - the world’s first successful electronic instrument - this British space-age pop ensemble will produce a show illustrated with songs, interstitial sound design, archival footage and narration.

Spanning the Victorian Founding Age, through the Atomic Age, and into the 21^st Century, the show illuminates striking connections between the sounds and technologies of today and yesteryear, also revealing unexpected links between the exploration of space and the dawn of electronic music.

The performance will feature a variety of esoteric instruments including Theremin, concert harp, Moog, modular synthesisers and Ondes Martenot. The line-up includes core RSO members Bruce Woolley, Andy Visser and Charlie Draper, with more guests to be announced.

Preceding the concert is an interdisciplinary research event, “Out of Touch? The Theremin in the Twenty-First Century”, curated by Edd Wilson-Stephens. Celebrating one hundred years since the Theremin instrument was first made commercially available, this student-led event will explore the relationship between science and music within a programme of illuminating performances and talks. Visual artist and singer Sion Parkinson, students from the School of Music, and speakers from the University of Leeds and the Science Museum Group will convene to explore contemporary gestural performance, and the history of electronic musical instruments and sound technologies.  The full schedule of talks and performances will be released in April.

The research event and concert are both free to attend, and form part of Leeds Digital Festival 2020 https://leedsdigitalfestival.org/

Admission Free