Press

REVIEW; AYRE
Portland Chamber Music Festival
Maine Classical Beat
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I've saved the best, soprano Ilana 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 11 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.
REVIEW: ST. MATTHEW PASSION
​Duke Chapel Choir/Orchestra Pro Cantores
Classical Voice North Carolina
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Soprano Ilana 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).
REVIEW: MONA LISA (von Schillings) 
​Carnegie Hall / Botstein / American Symphony Orchestra
Parterre.com
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Ilana Davidson winning as the local courtesan, a must at Mona Lisa's parties...
REVIEW: MONA LISA (von Schillings) 
​Carnegie Hall / Botstein / American Symphony Orchestra
Oberon's Grove ​
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Ilana Davidson had a lovely vocal vignette, portraying Venus in a carnival pageant.
REVIEW; NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG
The New York Times
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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...
REVIEW: EXSULTATE JUBILATE
​Brevard Music Center / Ken Lam
​Classical Voice North Carolina
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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.                                                  ​
REVIEW: MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 4
Slatkin / Detroit Symphony Orchestra
The Detroit Free Press
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Davidson's light-textured voice made a graceful evocation of heaven in the finale.
REVIEW: MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 4
Slatkin / Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Classicalsource.com
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Davidson sang with plenty of feeling and longing.
REVIEW: BARD FESTIVAL AND SUMMERSCAPE
The Boston Globe
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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 Krenek’s Durch die Nacht, a gleaming setting of poetry by Karl Kraus that proved to be another stunner.                                                ​
REVIEW: ORFEO ED EURIDICE (Glück)
Talmi /Orchestre symphonique de Québec
Le Soleil (Québec)
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Ilana Davidson as Amore, possesses beautiful musicality and the ideal timbre for this type of role.                        ​
REVIEW: ELIJAH
Harrisburg Symphony
Pennlive.com 
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The soloists reinforced what a spectacle vocal performance can be -- Grammy Award-winning soprano Ilana Davidson was particularly luminous as an angel. 
REVIEW: Songs of Innocence and of Experience (Bolcom)
Naxos / Slatkin
Classics Today
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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 Ilana Davidson’s attractive, silvery timbre in “The Angel”.
 REVIEW:
"Where Light and Shade Repose" / Chameleon Arts Ensemble
The Boston Globe
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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 Japanese 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 Ilana Davidson - and each time it gains in color, harmonic depth, and emotional weight.  The final song, after a fierce outburst, dissolves in a haze of percussion.                                          ​
REVIEW: The Juniper Tree (Glass, Moran) 
Alice Tully Hall
Opera News
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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.
REVIEW: Emily Dickinson Songs (Previn)
Monadnock Music Festival
The Boston Globe         
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Everything, though was beautifully sung by soprano Ilana Davidson, who had a sleek, agile voice that seemed perfect for both work
REVIEW: Brahms Requiem 
North Carolina Symphony
Newsobserver.com
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Ilana Davidson applied her light, silvery soprano to the fifth movement’s foretelling of great joy and comfort.
REVIEW: Messiah
Duke University Chapel
Classical Voice of North Carolina 
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Wynkoop  always  fields a group of fine vocal soloists and this year’s quartet was a royal flush!  Soprano Ilana 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!
REVIEW: Hums & Songs of Winnie the Pooh (Knussen)
Boston's Chameleon Arts Ensemble 
The Boston Musical-Intelligencer                                                                                               
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Knussen owes a lot to Britten's graceful melodic 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 Ilana 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.
REVIEW: Fauré Requiem
Fischer / Charlotte Symphony Orchestra
The Charlotte Observer
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The music gained a more personal side from the soloists:  Soprano Ilana Davidson gave the Pie Jesu an almost childlike gleam. ​
REVIEW: Alpenglow Chamber Music Festival
Summit Daily 
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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 won the hearts of the audience with her performance of Gershwin's lyrical By Strauss.

REVIEW: The Lieder of Ernst Krenek
Capriccio
Time Out Chicago
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Davidson is a frighteningly strong singer, but there is subtlety to her voice, too, evident in the delicately shaded lower passages.