DALIT HADASS WARSHAW: THEREMIN BIOGRAPHY
“She played with unassuming grace … The music was unearthly … This is the kind of concert that 2013 was supposed to have ….” ~ San Francisco Chronicle, June 2013
Having studied theremin with the renowned Clara Rockmore from an early age, composer and performer Dalit Warshaw has appeared as thereminist with such ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the American Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, performing in such spaces as Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall, Disney Hall, Alice Tully Hall and David Geffen Hall. In June 2013, her ensemble works for theremin were featured on the San Francisco Symphony Chamber Music Series, for which she performed as guest soloist. In October 2016, she joined the NY Festival Song’s Steven Blier and Michael Barrett, along with singers Dina Kuznetsova and Shea Owens, in presenting “Of Song From Russia to Riverside Drive,” in conjunction with the New York Philharmonic.
Her CD, Invocations, was released in January 2011 and is available on Albany Records. Along with providing a diverse representation of her compositional language, this disc integrates the theremin with acoustic ensembles in ways that exhibit the more lyrical, vocal and expressive capacities of this unusual instrument, and that reveal its limitless ways of blending and interacting with different timbral combinations. On it, she performs on a unique and profoundly historical instrument: Clara Rockmore’s theremin, which was built and customized to her specifications by its inventor, Lev Termen, in the early 1930’s, and on which she last performed in 1993.
As a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow, Warshaw composed Sirens: A Concerto for Theremin and Orchestra, which received its world premiere by thereminist Carolina Eyck and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (conducted by Gil Rose), shortly followed with its New York premiere by the Albany Symphony (conducted by David Alan Miller) in 2019. The Boston Globe’s Zoe Madonna described Sirens as “a sublimely expressive concerto… which unfolds in three strikingly conventional movements: opening and development, slow reverie, chaotic fugue. At times during Sirens, Eyck’s theremin masqueraded as bassoon, violin, cello, electric bass, and even a chorus of human voices – but mostly it was entirely itself, pouring out winding ribbons of fluid, perfectly seamless song. To me, the theremin sounds like idealism.” Sirens was listed among “Boston’s Best Classical Music Concerts in 2019” by the Boston Globe.
With Boston Modern Orchestra Project 2012
Warshaw has also been a frequent champion of her colleagues’ music, debuting theremin parts of composers such as Derek Bermel and David Del Tredici, also performing the American premiere of Andrew Norman’s “Air” for theremin and orchestra with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project in January 2012.
A full-time composition faculty member at the Boston Conservatory from 2004 to 2014, Warshaw now serves on the composition faculty at both the Juilliard School and at CUNY Brooklyn College.
SELECTED RADIO BROADCASTS AND ARTICLES:
“Beyond Sci-Fi: The Theremin Gets A 100th Birthday Concert in Boston” – WBUR.org
https://www.wbur.org/artery/2019/10/04/theremin-boston-modern-orchestra-sirens
“Theremin to Star at Albany Symphony Performance” – Joseph Dalton, timesunion.com
“Albany Symphony to Celebrate the Uncanny Theremin” – WAMC.org
https://www.wamc.org/post/albany-symphony-celebrate-uncanny-theremin
Dalit Warshaw on “Sirens” Concerto – Rob Brown, WMHT.org
https://www.wmht.org/blogs/classical/dalit-warshaw-on-sirens-concerto/
SELECTED THEREMIN PERFORMANCES:
Dalit Warshaw plays “Summertime” from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, on theremin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw6XIAVAUws
Dalit Warshaw plays “Im Wunderschonen Monat Mai” from Schumann’s Dichterliebe, on theremin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgKYv7lA6Fs
Melody Fader, piano.
Performance at Spectrum, New York, NY, July 13, 2013.
Transformation for theremin and string quartet (2007) by Dalit Warshaw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRgl3IAVmY4
Dalit Hadass Warshaw, Theremin
The Momenta Quartet: Owen Dalby and Erik Carlsen, violins Stephanie Griffin, viola Joanne Lin, cello from Albany TROY1238
Intriguing music from this extraordinary young composer. This recording allowed composer Dalit Hadass Warshaw to feature and reconcile diverse aspects of her musical identity — composer, pianist, and thereminist. The music runs across a broad harmonic spectrum with music ranging from solo instrumental works to string quartet to voice. It also highlights Warshaw’s mission to integrate the theremin with acoustic ensembles as her music for this instrument features the more lyrical, vocal and expressive capacities of this unusual instrument. The theremin used for this recording belonged to Clara Rockmore and was customized for her by its inventor, Lev Theremin, in the early 1930s. A prolific composer and active performer, Ms Warshaw’s music has been widely praised for its lyricism, its unique orchestral palette, its sense of drama and emotional intensity.
Nizk’orah for two theremins and piano (2001) by Dalit Warshaw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkGLNQIPP0E
Theremin #1: Clara Rockmore’s instrument, custom built by Leon Theremin in 1932
Theremin #2: Bob Moog’s 91W instrument, custom built for Warshaw in 1991
All instrumental parts performed by Dalit Warshaw.
Invocations: Music by Dalit Hadass Warshaw
℗ 2011 Albany Records