Clara Rockmore
| Clara Rockmore | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Clara Reisenberg |
| Born | 9 March 1911 Vilnius, Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | 10 May 1998 (aged 87) New York City, New York, United States |
| Genres | Classical music |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Violin, theremin |
Clara Rockmore (née Reisenberg, March 9, 1911 – May 10, 1998) was a classical violin prodigy and a virtuoso performer of the theremin, an electronic musical instrument. She was the sister of pianist Nadia Reisenberg.
Clara Reisenberg was born in Vilnius, then in the Russian Empire, to a family of Lithuanian Jews. She had two elder sisters, Anna and Nadia. Early in her childhood she emerged as a violin prodigy. At the age of four, she became the youngest ever student at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where she studied under the prominent violinist Leopold Auer. After the October Revolution the family moved back to Vilnius, and then to Warsaw, before obtaining visas and leaving for the United States in 1921.
In America, Rockmore enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music. As a teenager, tendinitis affected her bow arm, attributed to childhood malnutrition, and resulted in her giving up the violin. However, after meeting fellow immigrant Léon Theremin and being introduced to his electronic instrument, the theremin, she became its most prominent player. She performed widely and helped Theremin to refine his instrument.
Rockmore made orchestral appearances in New York and Philadelphia and went on coast-to-coast tours with Paul Robeson, but it was not until 1977 that she released a commercial recording called The Art of the Theremin. The album, which was produced by Bob Moog and Shirleigh Moog, featured Rockmore's theremin playing with piano accompaniment by her sister Nadia. Rockmore’s approach to theremin playing emphasized physical and emotional control. As she described it herself in an interview: "You must not only hit a note, but you must hit the center of it. You cannot register any of your internal emotion at all. You cannot shake your head, for instance, or sway back and forth on your feet. That would change your tone."
...
Wikipedia