Providence native is a budding opera singer

You could say that Providence native Ilana Goldstein is a triple threat: gifted violinist, talented soprano and a college graduate with a degree in cognitive neuroscience. 

Goldstein lives in Chicago, where she is just finishing up the first year of a two-year master’s degree program in voice and opera at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. Northwestern has been her home base since she graduated from Providence’s Wheeler School in 2009; she received an additional bachelor’s in voice performance as part of a special five-year undergraduate program at Northwestern.

Goldstein says she found a clear connection between her academic and performance work. 

“Learning the science concurrently with my classes in music cognition and music therapy was actually perfect,” she says. “There were lots of overlaps I wasn’t expecting.” 

Continuing on in neuroscience or instrumental music tempted Goldstein, but ultimately she decided to focus on voice in her graduate work. Still, she is quick to say that she continues to study violin, loves to play chamber music and hopes to also pick up the viola. 

In high school, Goldstein served as concertmaster of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Music School, where she began lessons at the age of three; she continued as concertmaster in Northwestern’s Philharmonic Orchestra, where she performed many violin solos, including in Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade.”  

 Today, however, Goldstein is intensively pursuing her vocal career, which she sees as a natural extension of her classical music study and her keen interest in opera.

“Opera is a global art form. It’s relevant,” she says. “It brings together history, literature, music and drama, and requires an understanding of more than one language. And – most people don’t consider this – there is also the sheer physical exertion of making a big sound with no amplification. It’s a true feat of athleticism!” 

Goldstein was captivated by opera when she studied in Vienna for five months. She and a group of friends regularly attended performances. 

“Standing room was something like 2 euros. And we had the best view in the house,” she says.

On June 5, Goldstein will experience a homecoming when she appears as a soloist with the Narragansett Bay Symphony Community Orchestra (NaBSCO) during a performance at the Smith Center at Providence College. Her solo comes during the final movement of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. Often called  “The Youth’s Magic Horn,” the symphony is a musical interpretation of poetry describing a child’s perspective of heaven. 

Goldstein characterizes the entire symphony as being about memory. And the final movement? 

“It’s not sad, there are no references to death, although we do assume this child has died. It’s nuanced. There are dark and light moments,” she says.

The performance will be a true family affair; Goldstein’s parents are NaBSCO members. Mother Amy, who also serves on the board of musical group Aurea, is a flutist, and her father, Bruce, is a violinist. Rehearsals have been held at the Music School, Goldstein’s old stomping grounds. 

Goldstein has no lack of performances to complete before her return trip to Rhode Island. As of this writing, she was preparing to appear in Northwestern’s production of the modern opera “Susannah,” by Carlisle Floyd, as well as the chorus for Mahler’s second “Resurrection” symphony, which she and classmates were to perform in Chicago’s Millennium Park over Memorial Day weekend. Then, of course, there are exams to take and a plane to catch so she can rehearse with NaBSCO.  She considers this all part of the intensive training involved in the life she has chosen.

Goldstein is philosophical about a career as an opera singer. “Your voice doesn’t mature until you are at least 30. In the meantime, I’m always finding different ways of singing in small groups. I love the theatricality of opera, but there are other ways of doing music as a career.” 

In fact, one of the reasons Goldstein is so happy to be at Northwestern is that she has found a cohort of like-minded music lovers and scholars serious about their art and willing to take risks. Next year she will be co-president of a student-founded, student-run opera company, the Chamber Opera Initiative (COI). This year she served as fundraising chair and used crowdfunding to support the company’s double bill of “The Old Maid and the Thief” by Giancarlo Menotti and “Doctor Miracle” by Georges Bizet, performed in collaboration with a chamber orchestra and student conductors.

Goldstein is also a member of the Beinen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble. “We perform new music – written no more than 10 years ago – that some people would consider strange.” The 24-voice ensemble sings a highly specialized, virtuosic repertoire, drawing connections between contemporary and early music, primarily that of the Renaissance. 

Goldstein laughs when asked what she does outside of school. 

“I don’t really have any time for other activities – it’s kind of all-consuming!” she says.

To help pay the bills, however, she manages to squeeze in time to tutor students for their ACTs and SATs. She also auditions for programs that will build her repertoire and provide important experience. 

For now, Chicago suits her. “This is a great place to get started, with a lot of small companies.” 

In the future, she imagines a move to New York City, or possibly Europe, where, she points out, singers are hired for “festival” jobs based on their voice types and have the opportunity to sing a variety of roles over the course of a season.

A role Goldstein would love to play is Elvira in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” Elvira, she says, “gets to scream at Don Giovanni for the whole opera. She is ruined by him but still loves him and wants to reform him. She follows him around and tries to thwart his plans to ruin other young women. It’s such a great role and, again, so relevant. You cannot force people to change.” 

Given all the sacrifices involved in a career in the arts, does Goldstein ever feel discouraged? 

“You have to try doing this while you’re young. And I would not be happy not trying,” she says.

MELANIE COON, a member of The Jewish Voice’s editorial advisory group, lives in Providence and has known Ilana Goldstein for nearly 20 years.