DARRYL KUBIAN is an accomplished composer, thereminist, violinist, and audio/video engineer, whose works have been commissioned and performed by orchestras throughout North America. Kubian's music embraces warm tonality and sweeping textures, and evokes expansive, natural lyricism.


As a composer, Kubian has been commissioned to write numerous works for Symphony orchestras. In March of 2023, the New Jersey Symphony premiered "The Well of Urd," Kubian's tone poem and concerto for full orchestra and three soloists, inspired by Norse mythology. In March of 2015, the New Jersey Symphony premiered his work, "O for a Muse of Fire," a concert overture based on Shakespeare’s Henry V. During the 2007–08 season, the NJSO gave the premiere of Kubian’s "3-2-1 Concerto for Electric and Acoustic Violin and Orchestra" — an NJSO commission dedicated to then-Music Director Neeme Järvi and NJSO Concertmaster (and soloist) Eric Wyrick. Following its critically acclaimed premiere, Scientific American featured 3-2-1 in its “60-Second Science” blog, describing the work as a “beautiful example of what happens when artists are inspired by scientific discoveries.”   Kubian’s "The Maestro Waltz," a special 70th-birthday piece for Neeme Järvi, was the featured encore during a number of 2006 NJSO concerts; it is also mentioned in Järvi’s biography, The Maestro’s Touch. Other works include the symphonic overture Occam’s Razor, premiered in May 2009 and performed by the Omaha Symphony in March 2012.


Kubian's engaging, fluid style has been featured in his extensive soundtrack work, including scores for the Wildlife Conservation Society, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Pangolin Pictures, NHK, CBS, The Learning Channel, and many others.  A few highlights of his work for National Geographic include being chief composer for the popular "Really Wild Animals" show, and his commission to compose the first official rearrangement of the National Geographic theme.  For the Wildlife Conservation Society, he has composed soundtracks for USAid, the US Department of Defense, and the Bronx Zoo.
 

Darryl Kubian's AV production company, IndigoFox Media, has produced on-location and in-studio works for numerous ensembles, including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Parlance Chamber Concerts, Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Ridgewood Concert Band, National Geographic, and more. For individual musicians, his clients include members of the Metropolitan Opera, NY Philharmonic, and NJ Symphony.

As a thereminist, Darryl Kubian has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cincinnati Pops, the Oregon Symphony, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and the New Jersey Symphony. In March 2024, Kubian performed the Martinu Fantasia for Theremin, Oboe, Piano and String Quartet with the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, and this summer, he will perform the work again as part of the Craftsbury Chamber Players series in VT, and at the Aspen Music Festival. In September of 2024, Kubian will perform Lera Auerbach's "The Little Mermaid" with the Houston Ballet. In previous seasons he has also performed the work with the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, as well as the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In February 2024, Kubian performed Lera Auerbach's overture, "Icarus," with the St. Louis Symphony. In 2019, he performed with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra in a program titled "Pops in Space" and he is featured as theremin soloist on their 2019 album, VOYAGE. In July 2015, Darryl was the featured theremin soloist for the Lincoln Center Festival's production of Danny Elfman's Music from the Films of Tim Burton. In the same month, Kubian performed as theremin soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia festival, again performing works by Danny Elfman. The Lincoln Center performances were filmed by Live from Lincoln Center and were broadcast on PBS stations nationwide. As theremin soloist with the NJ Symphony, Kubian has performed Bachianis Brasileires No. 5 by Villa-Lobos, the theme from Star Trek, and the Spellbound Suite by Miklos Rozsa.  He has performed both solo and chamber works as part of the Parlance Chamber Concert Series, the Ridgewood Concert Band, and Manchester Music Festival. Kubian’s performance of Two Songs Without Words for Theremin and Piano by Herbert Deutsch, is featured on Deutsch’s CD release of his works, “From Moog to Mac."

A member of the New Jersey Symphony’s first violin section and former principal second violin of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, Kubian has been a featured soloist with the NJS on the theremin. A jazz musician and improvisor, Kubian has performed with jazz violin with trumpeter Randy Brecker in a Charlie Parker program entitled “Bird Lives!” and has arranged and performed Ellington’s “Sacred Songs” in collaboration with the Jazz Studies Program at Rutgers University. Kubian’s improvisational skills have been highlighted with artists such as Nigel Kennedy, Al Jarreau, Bobby Short and Renée Fleming. He has recorded with such noted artists as Trevor Pinnock, Malcolm Bilson, Meredith Monk, Bruno Weil, Zdenek Macal and Phillip Glass.

Kubian is a graduate of Rutgers University, where he studied both violin and composition.  His teachers have included Charles Wuorinen, Philip Corner, Hiroko Yajima, Benjamin Hudson, and Arnold Steinhardt. He has been a featured guest speaker at several universities, and also teaches privately, when time allows. Kubian makes his home with his wife, JoAnna Farrer, in northern Vermont, with their many musical instruments, 18 chickens, 3 goats, a horse, a farm dog, and 7 cat companions.

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