Thorwald Jørgensen (born 1980) is a Dutch classical musician who specialises in the

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named aft ...

, an electronic musical instrument.

Biography

Jørgensen was born in

Zaltbommel Zaltbommel (), also known, historically and colloquially, as Bommel, is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. History The city of Zaltbommel The town of Zaltbommel was first mentioned as "Bomela" in the year 850. Zaltbommel received ...

. He took up playing

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

instruments at age 14 and began playing in orchestras. He took up classical music as a career full-time after graduating from the Utrecht and Tilburg Conservatory. He became influenced by the theremin after hearing the work of

Clara Rockmore Clara Reisenberg Rockmore ( Reisenberg; 9 March 1911 – 10 May 1998) was a Litvak classical violin prodigy and a virtuoso performer of the theremin, an electronic musical instrument. She was the sister of pianist Nadia Reisenberg. Life and ...

and began researching the instrument's history and teaching himself how to play one. As well as watching old videos of Rockmore, he consulted a friend who played the

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

for musical advice. He has subsequently played over 100 concerts using the theremin, including in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and a tour of the United States. In 2014, Jørgensen performed at the Music and Beyond festival in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, performing Daniel Mehdizadeh's "The Awakening of

Baron Samedi Baron Samedi (), also written Baron Samdi, Bawon Samedi or Bawon Sanmdi, is one of the lwa of Haitian Vodou. He is a lwa of the dead, along with Baron's numerous other incarnations Baron Cimetière, Baron La Croix and Baron Criminel. He i ...

". Together with Dutch harp player Renske de Leuw, Thorwald premiered "Sirenum scopuli" by Canadian composer Victor Herbiet at the X Rio Harp Festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2015. In 2023, Thorwald premiered "Cinq moments dans la vie trépidante de Léon Théremine", a theremin concerto by Canadian composer Simon Bertrand with the

Orchestre Métropolitain The Orchestre Métropolitain (, OM) is a symphony orchestra in Montréal, Québec, formed in 1981. It performs primarily in the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts but also at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier and Théâtre Maisonneuve. Outside th ...

conducted by Daniela Candillari. Jørgensen has been described as "one of the most important exponents of classical music on the theremin". In interviews, he has said he considers the theremin capable of being a serious instrument, rather than the novelty it is normally perceived as. He believes he can reproduce all the sounds in a typical classical

string section The string section of an orchestra is composed of bowed instruments belonging to the violin family. It normally consists of first and second violins, violas, cellos, and double basses. It is the most numerous group in the standard orchestra. In ...

from

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

. He has assembled a library of theremin music from stock libraries in both the Netherlands and worldwide, and has lectured on composition at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and Rotterdam Conservatory. Outside of classical music, Jørgensen has also played theremin on the Dutch

progressive metal Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...

band Satinoxide's album "Still in the Sun".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jorgensen, Thorwald 1980 births Living people Dutch classical musicians Theremin players Dutch people of Norwegian descent People from Zaltbommel