CAROLINA EYCK RELEASES NEW ALBUM ELEGIES FOR THEREMIN & VOICE

Carolina Eyck, widely considered the world’s foremost thereminist, releases her third LP for Butterscotch Records, Elegies for Theremin & Voice, on September 27, 2019. Elegies is released in the centennial year of the invention of the theremin – an instrument played without physical contact – and was created over the course of two years at producer Allen Farmelo’s studio in upstate New York. In connection with the new album, Eyck will tour the U.S. from September 29 through November 9, 2019, performing music from the new album as well as premiering a new concerto for theremin and orchestra, Sirens, by Dalit Warshaw with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (October 4) and the Albany Symphony (November 9). For Eyck’s tour schedule, visit www.carolinaeyck.com/calendar.

“Eyck has been honing her unique craft since the age of seven, and here we have evidence of her finesse at sharp-shooting pitch and manipulating tone, as she unwinds a plaintive aria.” – New York Public Radio

Eyck has composed theses ten pieces specifically for the LP format (her second outing doing so for Butterscotch Records). Together they form a haunting work in which Eyck surprises us with her vocal prowess, which ranges from forlorn moans of grief, to primordial howls of anger, to runs of nonsensical syllables that reinforce the ineffable nature of her topic: mortality and loss. There are no discernible words to be found on the LP, yet Eyck communicates a veritable encyclopedia of emotions without them. In one instance Eyck makes the album’s theme crystal clear – she dedicates the album to her friend Wiebke (1987-2016) and her uncle Měrčin (1962-1979).

While Eyck started with loops as sketches for her compositions, Farmelo insisted that everything on the LP be recorded in live takes, even as phrases repeat themselves. The approach gives the LP a subtle earthiness. Farmelo says, “At times, Eyck’s voice and theremin become indistinguishable, suggesting the deconstruction of language that is at the center of the LP’s ethos while simultaneously creating a kind of sonic camouflage. This camouflaging effect is especially strong when Eyck deploys her exceptional control of micro-intervals to create pronounced beating between voices.”

Farmelo writes of the process of making the album, in his producer’s note:

“No matter how many times you do it, the moment you hit record your mind goes nuts. The best studio musicians know how to mitigate that crazy headspace, but still the mind begins to skid out, headed for the guard rail beyond which there is a steep drop to a bitter crash into self-doubt and insecurity. Drugs mitigate this feeling, and huge egos can compensate for it, and thus the Rock Star is born. But without those two defense mechanisms, what’s left is fear. Carolina, who doesn’t even drink and has a refreshingly slight ego, is way tougher than any Rock Star I’ve worked with. She knows how to swallow, digest, and then use her fear in the studio. When we came out with the truth of this LP’s theme – the passing of loved ones – she swallowed the fear whole and immediately came to life in the studio. And suddenly the compositions began to expand, taking on a life of their own. That’s when you know you’ve got it, when the music starts to tell you what it wants, and you know how to give it those things.”

Carolina Eyck is a German-Sorbian musician and composer. She was awarded the Echo Klassik Prize for “Concert Recording of the Year” in 2015. Of her 2019 Tiny Desk concert, NPR reports, “to play the theremin like Eyck does, with her lyrical phrasing and precisely ‘fingered’ articulation, takes a special kind of virtuosity.” Electronic Musician writes, “Eyck modernizes the theremin, merging it within the classical tradition like child’s play,” while Textura states, “Carolina Eyck has done much to rid the theremin of its gimmick status and legitimize it as an instrument that can credibly take its place in any number of serious music contexts.”

Carolina Eyck was a child prodigy, beginning her studies at age seven with Lydia Kavina and developing her own eight-finger-position playing technique by age 16. She published The Art of Playing the Theremin, which teaches her technique, at just 17 years old. Her method is now being used by thereminists around the world and has revolutionized how the instrument is played.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Eyck has given concerts worldwide, and has collaborated with Heinz Holliger, Robert Kolinsky, Gerhard Oppitz, the conductors Andrey Boreyko, Michael Sanderling, Gürer Aykal, John Storgårds and Brad Lubman. She has been a soloist with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Argentine National Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Bern Symphony Orchestra, the Lapland Chamber Orchestra, and the Heidelberg Symphonic Orchestra.

She has performed in concert halls around the world, including Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., MONA (Museum of New and Old Art) Tasmania, Konzerthaus Berlin, Bozar Brussels, Rudolfinum in Prague, Großes Festspielhaus Salzburg, Centro Cultural Kirchner (CCK) Buenos Aires, Teatro National de Guatemala, and Centro Gabriela Mistral Santiago, Chile. Concertos for theremin and orchestra have been written for Eyck by composers including Kalevi Aho, Andrew Norman, Dalit Warshaw, and Régis Campo. She was also featured in the premiere of Fazil Say’s Universe and Mesopotamia Symphonies. Highlights for Eyck’s 2019-2020 season include solo performances with the BBC Philharmonic, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and Albany Symphony, as well as a U.S. tour in connection with the release of her album, Elegies for Theremin & Voice. Recent U.S. highlights include performances presented by the National Gallery of Art, Strathmore Mansion, and San Francisco Ballet.

Carolina Eyck’s transcription of Ennio Morricone’s The Ecstasy of Gold has been viewed more than 15 million times online. She enjoys collaborating with contemporary artists from a variety of genres, and has performed or recorded with rock legend Steve Vai, singer-songwriter Gotye, DJ Jeff Mills, guitarist Jim Moginie, Tangerine Dream, multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier, and vocalist Theo Bleckmann, among others. Eyck has also performed in a duo with pianist and composer Christopher Tarnow since 2013, producing two records. In 2016, she released an album featuring her own composition Fantasias for Theremin and String Quartet with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble.

Carolina Eyck regularly conducts theremin workshops, lectures, and master classes worldwide. She is the artistic director of the Theremin Academy in Colmar (France), Leipzig, and Berlin (Germany). In 2018, she gave a TEDx Talk about the symbiosis of self-control and freedom while playing the theremin. A documentary about her work, Carolina and the Waves, is currently in production.

Carolina Eyck: Elegies for Theremin & Voice
Butterscotch Records
Release date: September 27, 2019

1. Duet I [0:55]
2. Remembrance [4:10]
3. Absence [4:41]
4. Uncle [5:12]
5. Solo I [0:57]
6. Duet II [1:34]
7. Commemoration [4:25]
8. Presence [4:12]
9. Friend [4:42]
10. Solo II [0:38]

Release Date: September 27, 2019
Butterscotch Records

U.S. Performances:
Sept. 29 – Capitol Center for the Arts – Concord, NH
Oct. 4 – Boston Modern Orchestra Project – Boston, MA
Oct. 16 – Constellation – Chicago, IL
Oct. 20 – Civic Center Studios presented by Equal Sound – Los Angeles, CA
Oct. 25 – National Sawdust – Brooklyn, NY
Nov. 1 – Epsilon Spires Sanctuary – Brattleboro, VT
Nov. 6 – Syracuse University – Syracuse, NY
Nov. 9 – Albany Symphony – Albany, NY