Music from Thin Air: A Theremin Concert

PHOTO CREDIT: Dan Webb, Photographer

You won’t find more electrifying music. Literally. A theremin performed the most memorable parts in the soundtracks of Spellbound, Ghostbusters and even the Ten Commandments. It’s the Good Vibrations of the Beach Boys.

You can hear this century-old invention display its tremendous versatility at the Divine Hand Ensemble concert Wednesday evening, May 12 at the famed Elkins Estate on Ashbourne Road in Elkins Park.

If you’ve never seen a theremin, you’re also in for a treat. It’s not stroked, plucked, strummed, blown or struck. It’s not touched. “It’s a free space instrument,” says Mano Divina, concert thereminist and principal of the Divine Hand Ensemble. “You’re pulling notes out of the air.”

Created in 1920 by Russian engineer (Lev Termen/Leon Theremin), the theremin “etherphone” uses two special antennae to produce an electromagnetic field. The musician “juggles the electricity” in the air to render pitch and dynamics. Yes, a fly darting through the field can alter what you hear.

“Consistency is a struggle. You can practice something one hundred times and each time it could be different,” explains Mano. In testament to the instability and challenge of playing theremin, Mano says that Wendy Carlos - mother of modern electronic music and composer of Clockwork Orange, 2001, The Shining and Switched-On Bach, among other modern classics – abandoned theremin after a year or so.

Got questions? Mano Divina is your man. He holds an inviting, informative Q & A. Born into a musical family, many of whom played for Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra, Mano ran a recording studio and held a career as session musician proficient in about ten instruments until he came across a world-renowned concert thereminist. After initially rejecting the theremin as a hoax, he fell deeply in love with it, abandoning other work in pursuit of its mesmerizing song.

The Divine Hand Ensemble comprises a unique double quartet – often in dialogue - that includes two harps, a glockenspiel, guitar on one side and a cello, viola and two violins on the other. Mano’s field is front and center, “floating and stitching them together.”

Repertoire ranges from classical to punk rock. Mano appreciates Miles Davis, the Rolling Stones and Springsteen. But operatic arias and sacred music move him with “spiritual impact and strong resonance.” The group is based in the Montgomeryville area, and performs locally as well as internationally. They’re available for weddings, stage, theater, benefits, and even funerals. “Funerary music is a lost art from the 1500s. In those times, it was performed at graveside, aimed for the deceased, to help cleanse the soul and guide it up to heaven,” explains Mano, assuming his hat as music historian.

Mano studies with a voice coach, even though he never sings at his concerts. Instead, he uses this training to help him translate arias with his hands in order to better harness the electricity “to sing like a human voice.”

Mano and another ensemble member arrange and customize music for their unique presentations. Mano also composes music, which he has yet to perform in public. He’d rather build the confidence and comfort of audiences with something more familiar. Among his goals is to help listeners recognize and understand this temperamental, delicate and complex instrument.


IF YOU GO: Divine Hand Ensemble will perform for Animus Music Wednesday Concert Series at Elkins Estate, 1750 Ashbourne Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, Wednesday evening, May 12, 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 7:00, open seating. Tickets: $10-15. Info: 215-393-1649 or www.divinehand.net