MAIN STAGE: Gila Goldstein | Passages| Faculty Artist Recital

Most of the composers on this program titled “Passages”, as well as the performer herself, are musical emigrants. They left their home country to pursue their career elsewhere and shaped their art through new cultural perspectives.

Chopin went to Paris at nineteen and stayed for the rest of his life. Scarlatti spent twenty-eight years working for the queen of Spain. Paul Ben-Haim fled Germany for Israel as the Nazis took power. Felix Mendelssohn, although did not leave Germany, was the son of a man who converted from Judaism to Christianity as he thought it may keep the family safer. Gershwin’s parents were immigrants who arrived from Russia to America and Gershwin, who was born in New York City, adopted and integrated African-American musical styles into his compositions.

Gila Goldstein made a similar crossing herself, from Israel to New York, as did Israeli composer Tamar Muskal. She plays this music with the authority of someone who experienced starting over in a new land. The program reflects the transformations such emigrant artists go through during their lives.

The Bach arrangement of a Vivaldi piece (second movement of a concerto for two violins), which is part of the opening section of the recital, pays homage to Mendelssohn, who put Bach back on the concert stage.

Pianist Gila Goldstein is known as a versatile musician and has captivated audiences around the world with her unique artistry and soulful interpretations. Ms. Goldstein has performed as a soloist and as a chamber player throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Korea, the Philippines, Europe and Israel. Her most notable performances included the Berliner Symphoniker, Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra and Orquesta Da Camera in Mexico City as well as recitals and concerts at Lincoln Center and Merkin Hall in New York City, Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano, Beijing Concert Hall, Shanghai Normal University and the Phoenix Theatre in Changzhou in China, Seoul National University in Korea, the Purcell Room at the South Bank Center in London, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Musée de Louvre and Cité des Arts in Paris, Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Old First Church in San Francisco, Gardner Museum, Tsai Performing Center and Pickman Hall in Boston, Dame Myra Hess concert series, Ravinia’s “Rising Stars” Series and Symphony Hall in Chicago, ”Great Performances“ series in St. Louis, Israel’s Henry Crown Hall in Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv Museum, among others.

A Board member of the American Liszt Society (ALS) and the Founder-President of its New York Chapter since 1992, she has been a frequent guest performer at the ALS annual festivals around the United States and Canada. She also performed and taught at festivals such as EuroArts, PianoFest Arad, Amalfi Coast, High Peaks, RPPF, Sonus, Summit, Colburn, OpusFest, as well as Jewish Music Festivals in Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Toronto and London, and the Israel Festival. Gila Goldstein has been a sought-after pedagogue for over two decades and has given numerous master classes in the USA, Korea and China. She is a member of the piano faculty at Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Previous teaching positions included Boston University, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Brown University and New York University.

A champion of the music of Israel’s leading composer Paul Ben-Haim for over two decades as a performer and recording artist, Ms. Goldstein has recorded and released two albums of his entire piano and chamber works on the American label Centaur. In 2024 she released on the Centaur label “Latin American Piano Gems” (works by Guastavino, Lecuona, Piazzolla, Ponce and Villa-Lobos), and in 2025 she released for the Albany/Parma label “24 Preludes of Dusk and Dawn” by composer Ronn Yedidia. All her albums received glowing reviews in publications worldwide and were played on numerous radio stations.

She obtained her music degrees in piano performance from the Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Prof. Nina Svetlanova and the Tel-Aviv University’s School of Music, where her teacher was Prof. Victor Derevianko, both of her teachers were disciples of the legendary Russian pianist and pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus.

Please visit her web site, www.gilagoldstein.com