Rob Schwimmer is a composer-pianist and thereminist....

Rob Schwimmer is a composer-pianist and thereminist who has performed and recorded throughout the world. His compositions have been featured in theater, television series and movies, documentaries and feature films including the 2008 Academy Award Winner "Freeheld". His recent solo CD "Beyond The Sky" was hailed as "Extraordinary" in Gramophone and as "Shaping up to be the finest solo piano CD of the year" in All About Jazz-NY.

Rob is a founding member of the highly acclaimed Polygraph Lounge music and comedy duo with multi-instrumentalist Mark Stewart. Schwimmer has worked/ played with Simon and Garfunkel (most recently the 2009 summer tour of New Zealand, Australia and Japan as well as appearing on their CD/DVD "Old Friends: Live On Stage"), Wayne Shorter, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Bobby McFerrin, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Adam Guettel, Chaka Khan, Laurie Anderson, Bette Midler, T-Bone Walker, Sam Rivers, Marc Shaiman, The Klezmatics, Matthew Barney, Ang Lee, Bela Fleck, Mary Cleere Haran, Maria Schneider, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marshall Brickman, Michel Gondry, Josh Groban, Queen Latifah, Mabou Mines, Geoffrey Holder, John Cale, Steve Buscemi, Theo Bleckmann, Annette Peacock, John Stubblefield, Burt Bacharach, Edie Brickell, Arif Mardin, Teo Macero, Hal Willner, Vernon Reid, The Everly Brothers, Ethel, The Roches, Anjani Thomas, Kurt Vonnegut, Odetta, James Emery, Drepung Loseling Tibetan Monks, Joseph Jarman, Alwin Nikolai/ Murray Louis Dance Company, Henry Jaglom, Talujon Percussion Quartet, Fred Anderson, Marc Ribot, C&C Music Factory and Sammy Davis Jr.

Rob is one of the few theremin virtuosos in the world, performing as featured theremin soloist for many projects including R.W. Goodwin's movie (producer/director/writer of X-Files) Alien Trespass, Matthew Barney's epic movie Cremaster 3, CBS television series Now and Again and A&E's Breakfast With the Arts (as well as giving Sara Fishko a theremin lesson on the nationally broadcast Studio 360 on NPR). Hailed as a "Theremin master" by The New York Times, he is an original member of the NY Theremin Society and was one of the chosen participants in the historic 10 Piece Theremin Orchestra at Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

[Photo: Rob Schwimmer with Amy Kohn] Rob recently premiered his 23 minute work "Pellucid Dream(s) for Theremin" which was commissioned by The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. Rob's appearances as theremin soloist with orchestras include The Little Orchestra (Lincoln Center); the New Haven Symphony Orchestra (Yale); and Red, An Orchestra (Cleveland.) His previous CD "Theremin Noir" featured pianist Uri Caine and violinist Mark Feldman. Other collaborations include The Zmiros Project (CD) with Frank London and Lorin Sklamberg (The Klezmatics).

He has played from Madison Square Garden to the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), from The Blue Note to CBGB's, from Krakow to Canberra, from Carnegie Hall to the Tokyo Dome, and the Colosseum (Rome) before a crowd of over 600,000.

Schwimmer's work can be heard on CBS/Sony, Warner Brothers, Toshiba/ EMI, Def Jam/ Island, Manhattan/Blue Note, Dorian, NHK, Capricorn, Evidence, Knitting Factory, Polystar, Traditional Crossroads, Dreamworks SKG, Universal Pictures, TriStar Pictures, HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, CBS, NBC, ABC, Discovery, Lifetime, Noggin, A&E, NPR and Nickelodeon.

Program:
Thursday, February 25th, 2010 — 8:00 PM

Rob Schwimmer’s Wild World of Piano - Bargemusic Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn, NY
http://www.bargemusic.org/
Rob Schwimmer, Piano and Theremin

Thursday, March 4th, 2010
POLYGRAPH LOUNGE - Zankel Hall, 881 7th Avenue, New York, NY
http://www.carnegiehall.org/

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 — 7:30 PM
ZMIROS/NIGUNIM TRIO - details tba Boca Raton, FL
with Frank London & Lorin Sklamberg

Saturday, May 15th, 2010 — 1:00 PM
POLYGRAPH LOUNGE - Zankel Hall, 881 7th Avenue, New York, NY
http://www.carnegiehall.org/