The sounds of the theremin seem to be created as if by magic: it is played without contact using the electric capacity of the human body. At the concert in the festival centre, Dorit Chrysler joins young people from Graz to perform her composition “Invisible Flames”.

The theremin: an instrument shrouded in legend, invented 100 years ago, is still played only by few and rarely heard. What looks like a box with two aerials creates a sirenic electric sound when a body enters its electromagnetic field. Because of this unusual mode of playing, the instrument is difficult to master – unpredictability is an essential element of any theremin concert. Above all playing several instruments in the same room without creating interference poses a major technical challenge: the concert for 11 theremins at steirischer herbst is a rarely ventured experiment with no predetermined outcome.

In the lead-up to the concert, Dorit Chrysler is holding a number of workshops in which children aged four or older, young people, and adults can learn to play the theremin.The Graz-based musician, one of the world’s best-known theremin players, performed with her instrument at the 2016 steirischer herbst opening concert and is founder of the Kid Cool Theremin School in her former adopted home New York. Participants can learn how to tame this sensitive instrument at the workshop: at least not with notes or other fixed points of reference – simply by moving their hands in the air.

Mediathek