Celia Sheen and her Theremin
The original score for Schnittke's Nagasaki Oratorio, the first work in last night's Prom 52, calls for a musical saw. In subsequent performances, though, a Theremin was substituted for the saw. Last night's Theremin player was Celia Sheen - Britain's leading exponent. In the remarkable video she plays the theme from long-running ITV whodunit Midsomer Murders and in her interview with Samara she explains how the instrument works and how she came to play it (which, spookily, has quite a lot to do with John Landis, director of Michael Jackson's Thriller).
Listen to Samara's interview with Celia and leave comments on the Radio 3 blog, where this post originally appeared.

