Ilana Davidson Grammy-Winning Soprano
Media & Press Kit

Headshot of grammy winning soprano Ilana Davidson wearing a navy blue blouse with her hands under her chin and her hair pulled back smiling at the camera in front of a blurred background of a window.

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Press Reviews

  • I've saved the best, soprano lana Davidson, for last. Her voice is both powerful and melodious, a more rare combination than one might think, and her portrayal of moods in the is songs that make up "Ayre" gives the juxtapositions extraordinary power. She also has the vocal elisions of Sephardic and Arabic music down pat, as difficult a feat as singing the ornamentations in Handel.

    AYRE Portland Chamber Music Festival

    Maine Classical Beat

  • Soprano Hana Davidson's first aria, 'Blute nur, du liebes Herz!" ('Bleed on, you loving heart") was a joy to hear; her limpid and moving "Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben" (Because of love, my Savior is willing to die") captured the believer's faith that continues when its ground has been removed (hence, in this aria. Bach leaves out the "ground." the basso continuo).

    ST. MATTHEW PASSION
    Duke Chapel Choir/Orchestra Pro Cantores

    Classical Voice North Carolina

  • Ilana Davidson winning as the local courtesan, a must at Mona Lisa's parties...

    MONA LISA (von Schillings) Carnegie Hall / Botstein / American Symphony

    Orchestra Parterre.com

  • IIana Davidson had a lovely vocal vignette, portraying Venus in a carnival pageant.

    MONA LISA (von Schillings) Carnegie Hall / Botstein / American Symphony

    Orchestra Oberon's Grove

  • Mr. Becenti's The Obsidian Morning (2015) may be his first song. but with a cosmic text by Renee Podunovich, it proved extraordinary. The soprano Ilana Davidson easily navigated the vocal line's vertiginous leaps and amazed spoken passages...

    NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG

    The New York Times

  • Soloist Ilana Davidson is a very attractive singer with a lovely, lyrical vocal quality that blended extremely well with the small orchestra and projected effectively into the hall... there were definitely high points in the performance notably the vocal cadenzas within the outer sections, each executed with technical finesse and lovely musicality.

    EXSULTATE JUBILATE
    Brevard Music Center / Ken Lam

    Classical Voice North Carolina

  • Davidson's light-textured voice made a graceful evocation of heaven in the finale.

    MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 4
    Slatkin / Detroit Symphony Orchestra

    The Detroit Free Press

  • Davidson sang with plenty of feeling and longing.

    MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 4
    Slatkin / Detroit Symphony Orchestra

    Classicalsource.com

  • Berg on this program was represented by his iridescent treatment of a Theodor Storm poem, Schliesse mir die Augen beide. Soprano Ilana Davidson and pianist Anna Plonsky were the superb performers. Both of the Berg and of Ernst Krenck's Durch die Nacht, a gleaming setting of poetry by Karl Kraus that proved to be another stunner.

    BARD FESTIVAL AND SUMMERSCAPE

    The Boston Globe

  • Iana Davidson as Amore, possesses beautiful musicality and the ideal timbre for this type of role.

    ORFEO ED EURIDICE (Glück)
    Talmi /Orchestre symphonique de Québee

    Le Soleil (Québec)

  • The soloists reinforced that a spectacle vocal performance can be -- Grammy Award-winning soprano Ilana Davidson was particularly luminous as an angel.

    ELITAH Harrisburg Symphony

    Pennlive.com

  • You couldn't imagine a more varied group of vocal soloists. They run the gamut from Joan Morris' unique cabaret approach and Thomas Young's stentorian yet supple tenor, to Nathan Lee Graham's ringing. focused baritone and lana Davidson's attractive, silvery timbre in "The Angel".

    Songs of Innocence and of Experience (Bolcom)
    Naxos / Slatkin

    Classics Today

  • 66 Times: The Voice of Pines and Cedars for soprano and chamber ensemble by the Taiwanese-born composer Shih-Hui Chen. There are four settings of Yapanese poems (in translation), each of which compactly sketches the natural beauty and affective power of one of the seasons. Here the concert's title seemed most apt, as each song masterfully balances illumination and shadow. The third poem. "when the warm mists vale," is the shortest; it is sung three times by the soprano - the superb llana Davidson - and each time it gains in color, harmonie depth, and emotional weight. The final song. after a fierce outburst. dissolves in a haze of percussion.

    "Where Light and Shade Repose"
    Chameleon Arts Ensemble

    The Boston Globe

  • Ilana Davidson's crystalline soprano, scrupulous musicianship and expressive diction--all evoking comparison with Dawn Upshaw in her radiant early years--made the doomed Wife an appealing figure of dignity and pathos.

    The Juniper Tree (Glass. Moran)
    Alice Tully Hall

    Opera News

  • Everything, though was beautifully sung by soprano lana Davidson, who had a sleek, agile voice that seemed perfect for both work

    Emily Dickinson Songs (Previn)
    Monadnock Music Festival

    The Boston Globe

  • Ilana Davidson applied her light, silvery soprano to the fifth movement's foretelling of great joy and comfort.

    Brahms Requiem
    North Carolina Symphony

    Newsobseroer.com

  • Wynkoop always fields a group of fine vocal soloists and this year's quartet cas a royal flush! Soprano lana Davidson was an elegant, polished singer with a winning tone and a very evenly supported voice across its range. Her quiet singing was particularly subtle and her highest notes rang gloriously throughout the chapel. All four singers could give master classes in perfect diction!

    Messiah
    Duke University Chapel

    Classical Voice of North Carolina

  • Knussen owes a lot to Britten's graceful melodie style, but he makes frequent reference to Pierrot Lunaire through instrumental effects for the vocalist and a rich palette of orchestral effects. Still. why is his Seven Acre Wood so scary? Soprano lana Davidson relieved a lot of this musical tension through her effortless delivery and humorous interpretation of the texts. With exceptional control in the high range, she dueled with both the flute and clarinet and blended seamlessly with cello harmonics.

    Hums & Songs of Winnie the Pooh (Knussen)
    Boston's Chameleon Arts Ensemble

    The Boston Musical-Intelligencer

  • The music gained a more personal side from the soloists: Soprano Ilana Davidson gave the Pie Jesu an almost childlike gleam.

    Fauré Requiem Fischer
    Charlotte Symphony Orchestra

    The Charlotte Observer

  • Included in the Tuesday evening performance was Two Songs for Voice composed by Johannes Brahms, written for his dear friends, Amalie and Joseph Joachim, a couple who had recently split Davidson gave full expression to the song of children slumbering in the wind. Equally impressive were Davidson's performance within the set of American songs of Aaron Copland's Simple Gifts taken from his inspiring work, Appalachian Spring and her inspiring vocal sonority of the sounds of nature used for John Cage's composition, The Flower, written for voice and accompanied by Aizawa, providing the accents with sounds from a 'closed piano.' She then completely con the hearts of the audience with her performance of Gershwin's lyrical By Strauss.

    Alpenglow Chamber Music Festival

    Summit Daily

  • Davidson is a frighteningly strong singer, but there is subtlety to her voice, too, evident in the delicately shaded lower passages.

    The Lieder of Ernst Krenek
    Capriccio

    Time Out Chicago

Recent Events

    • Recording | Cuatro Canciones Sefardies 
      Dan Lippel, guitar / Ilana Davidson, voice 

    • EcoTones Concerts: The Wise Trees of River Hook https://www.jodyredhageferber.com/ecotones

    • Santa Fe, NM Recital:
      Ilana Davidson, soprano; Krista River, mezzo-soprano; Jody Redhage Ferber, composer / cellist; Debra Ayers, piano

    • Recording | Italian Art Songs
      Ilana Davidson, soprano / Elliot Roman, piano

    • Tribute to Cantor Charles Davidson
      Philadelphia, PA

    • Sounds of Early Spain & The Middle East Congregation Sons of Israel, Nyack, NY

      Nell Snaidas: Curator, Voice; Daphna Mor: Recorder / Voice; Ilana Davidson: Voice; Kane Mathis, Oud; Rex Benincasa, Percussion; Zafer Tawil, Oud/ Violin

    • Concerts at Snow Hill | Dublin, New Hampshire

      Ilana Davidson, soprano; Jonathan Bagg, viola; Elliot Roman, piano Purcell, Monteverdi, Brahms, Bernstein, Wolf, Schumann, Brahms Haydn

    • Serenata Solstice | Serenata Chamber Series

    • A Child's Christmas in Wales | Serenata Chamber Series 

    • Sounds of Early Spain & The Middle East | Serenata Chamber Series

      Nell Snaidas: Curator, Voice; Daphna Mor: Recorder / Voice; Ilana Davidson: Voice; Kane Mathis, Oud; Rex Benincasa, Percussion; Zafer Tawil, Oud/ Violin 

    • 2024 ACOR Arts Awards, Art on the Hudson
      Arts Award Finalist in Music / June 2024

    • Mahler Symphony No. 2 | Buffalo Symphony| Buffalo, NY
      Falletta; Platts, Davidson

    • Tribute to Cantor Charles Davidson | Minneapolis, MN

    • The Art of the Clavichord | Serenata Chamber Music | Nyack, NY
      Rieko Aizawa, clavichord; Jesse Mills, violin; Ilana Davidson, soprano

    • An Altazano Recital | Santa Fe, NM
      Ilana Davidson, soprano; Debra Ayers, piano Purcell, Bach, Mozart, Wolf, Schuman, Bowles, Britten, Fauré, Debussy, Shostakovich

    • A Child's Christmas in Wales | Serenata Chamber Series 

    • A Child's Christmas in Wales | Serenata Chamber Series | New York / CT

    • Excerpts from "Steal a Pencil for Me" by Gerald Cohen | Bethesda, MD
      Ilana Davidson, Gerald Cohen, Asa Fradkin, and Elizabeth Shammash George Peachy, piano Elliot Roman, conductor 

    • Autumn Reflections | Violinist Krista Bennion Feeney and Double Bassist John Feeney
      Artistic Director Serenata Chamber Series 

    • Alpenglow Chamber Music | Goethe Lieder, Schönberg, Bolcom | Silverthorn, CO
      Rieko Aizawa, piano; Max Mandel, viola; Ilana Davidson, soprano

    • Bach's Birthday Bash | Serenata Chamber Series | Nyack, NY
      Krista Bennion Feeney, violin; Jessica Troy, violin; John Feeney, double bass; Ilana Davidson, soprano

    • Duke Department of Music | Concerts and Recitals | Raleigh, NC
      Jonathan Bagg, viola; Mimi Solomon, piano; Ilana Davidson, soprano

    • Montage Music Society | Handel, Haydn, Puts, Previn | Santa Fe, NM
      Ilana Davidson, soprano; Krista River, mezzo soprano; Debra Ayers, piano 

    • Recital | Handel, Haydn, Puts, Previn |Cochran Chapel, Andover, MA
      Ilana Davidson, soprano; Krista River, mezzo soprano; Stephen Porter, piano

    • Autumn Reflections | Serenata Chamber Series | Nyack, NY
      Laura Gilbert, Flute; Jonathan Bagg, viola; Ilana Davidson, soprano; Tomina Parvanova Lyden, harp

    • String Trio & Soprano | Serenata Chamber Series, Nyack, NY
      Jesse Mills, violin; Tanner Menees, viola; Joel Noyes, cello; Ilana Davidson, soprano Schubert, Purcell, O'Connor, Haydn, Dohnányi

    • Alpenglow Chamber Music | Silverthorn, CO