Lydia Kavina / The Twelve Hour Foundation (Double Bill)

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Lydia Kavina is a prominent figure in the world of theremin art. Russian-born and based in the UK, she studied music theory and composition at Moscow Conservatory, and the theremin under the direction of the inventor Léon Theremin, to whom she is related.

As a theremin performer, Kavina has graced the stages of renowned orchestras such as the London Symphony, Radio France Orchestra, and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, among others. She worked with the Orchestra of Electronic Music Instruments of Soviet Radio and Television for many years, and collaborated with several prominent figures in the field of electronic music such as Robert Moog and Brian Eno.

Lydia worked for many theatre productions, such as ballet The Little Mermaid by Lera Auerbach and John Neumeier, in Copenhagen, Hamburg, Beijing and Seoul (2005-2024), musicals Alice and Black Rider by Tom Waits and Robert Wilson in Hamburg and Cologne (1992-1998) and many others. She also played for several film soundtracks, including The Electrical Life of Louis Wain with music by Arthur Sharpe, Ed Wood and eXistenZ with scores by Howard Shore, and The Machinist by Roque Banos.

She has recorded several albums featuring original theremin music released by labels including MODE Records, WERGO, Artservice, Solnze Records, DistroKid, and Teleura. She is strongly committed to educational activities teaching at Theremin Academy sessions in Oxford Music Faculty, and at Lausanne, Switzerland, Lippstadt, Germany and Santiago, Chile, and she taught theremin at Moscow Theremin Center for many years.

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The Twelve Hour Foundation

Comprising Polly Hulse (Yamaha CS-10, flute, vocals, field recordings) and Jez Butler (Moog Rogue, Korg Volca Keys, concrète sequences), the Bristol-based duo mixes elements of musique concrète, 1970s library music, early electronic pop, and the Radiophonic work of John Baker and Paddy Kingsland.

The majority of their tracks are built using a pair of 45-year-old synthesizers, mixed with treated field recordings and sounds created from samples of household objects: plastic tubing, bottles, corks, a wire draining rack, electrical appliances and the human body.

The duo have released a number of albums and EPs on a variety of labels, receiving airplay by the likes of Stuart Maconie (The Freak Zone), Gideon Coe (BBC 6 Music), Pete Wiggs (The Séance / Saint Etienne) and Project Moonbase. Their first album The Lighter Side of Concrete also featured as a Ghost Box Records ‘guest’ release.

Commissioned to accompany projects celebrating the people and architecture of Reading, the band’s most recent original LP The Hexagonal World of the Twelve Hour Foundation was released in 2023. A retrospective double CD released this year revisits their earlier vinyl offerings.

The Twelve Hour Foundation have also recorded music for theatre, film, audio productions and television, in addition to regular gigs, live performances have included Green Man and Supernormal festivals, and the Delaware Road Radiophonic Workshop-inspired events.

"...a sparklingly produced, fresh distillation of the spirit and bright breezy feel of classic British library electronics and BBC recordings.” - Jim Jupp (Ghost Box Records / Belbury Poly) on tree little milk egg book

"...an effervescently bubbling melting pot of rubbery juddering minimalism ...  low-slung motorik propulsion ... arcadian wistfulness ...Wendy Carlos classicism ... and a raft of reliably squiggly Look Around You-meets-Tomorrow’s World soundtrack miniatures.” - Adrian (Concrete Islands)  on Six Twenty Negative

“…staggeringly accurate tributes to the Moog-drenched, radiophonic library music of the mid-1970s.” - Bob Fischer (Fortean Times) on Six Twenty Negative