Artist Bio

Randy George is one of a small handful of the world’s finest theremin performers. Having appeared as theremin soloist, chamber artist, studio player, lecturer and video maker, Randy has created waves in the awareness and advancement of the space controlled instrument. His YouTube videos featuring the theremin have been viewed over 21 million times. He has worked with among others: Danny Elfman, John Massari, Timo Chen, Nick Sena, Bleeding Fingers Music, Hollywood Symphony, Redlands Symphony, Santa Monica Symphony, Dilijan Chamber Music, Gaudete Brass, SUNY Fredonia School of Music, Polytechnic University of Valencia Fine Arts.

Randy holds a Bachelor of Music degree from University of North Texas College of Music where he studied bassoon performance, music theory, and live sound recording arts. Following university studies, a career shift to film music post production brought him to Los Angeles where he worked for music products industry leader Avid M-Audio. During his stint as technical events specialist, surrounded by musical instruments and tech, fate ran its course and Randy was introduced to the theremin, which naturally bridged his passions for technology, problem solving and music.

Randy George resides in Los Angeles and records, performs, and presents worldwide. His theremin playing can be heard in recent TV/Film soundtracks for FOX The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror (2023), Apple TV+ The Big Door Prize (2023) and Sung Kang’s Shaky Shivers (2022).

About the Theremin

The theremin is one of the earliest electronic musical instruments. It is the only instrument in the world that is played continuously, without any physical contact. It was developed in the 1920’s by Russian scientist and inventor Lev Sergeyevich Termen as a direct product of his innovations in radio physics and his musical upbringing as a classical cellist. A performer of the theremin uses their arms and hands to influence the motion sensitive space surrounding the instrument to continuously modulate the pitch and loudness of its voice. The tone can range from sounding human-like to string-like or flute/wind-like depending on subtleties in the performer’s gestures. Because of its unconventional playing interface that is void of tactile reference, the theremin is extremely difficult to master. The craft of melodic theremin playing requires a unique combination of skills including finely tuned relative pitch acuity, zen-like mastery of body stillness and coordination, and problem solving ability.

The theremin was originally conceived as a melodic musical instrument that could be approached similarly to a violin or cello, but the combination of its learning curve and unusual playing interface also made it appealing in applications where refined control was not important. A default approach, when absent of any musical inclination involves a player moving their arm carelessly while sustaining an agitated shake of the wrist. The method yields a distinct warbling sound that evokes feelings of uneasiness, other-worldliness and fear. This default sound “effect” naturally became synonymous with the spooky character of Hollywood science fiction and horror movie soundtracks in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Most notably, it was used in Bernard Herrmann’s score from “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (1951) and Miklós Rózsa’s score from “Spellbound” (1945).

Over the past twenty years, there has been a surge in awareness of the theremin and it is currently seeing a renaissance, especially in the contexts of modern composition and live performance. Although it seems its novelty has worn down since its inception, there is a considerable interest in the instrument. There has never been more people attracted to the theremin, composing music for theremin, or playing the theremin than there are in the world today. In 2020, the theremin performers, builders, collectors, and enthusiasts celebrated the 100 year anniversary of Lev Termen’s magical impossible invention.

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