Lori Goldston | |
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 Goldston in 2024 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 1963 or 1964 (age 60–61) |
| Genres | Classical,World,Rock,Film score,Free improvisation |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, artist |
| Instrument(s) | Cello, guitar, voice |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Labels | Sub Rosa, Mississippi,Sub Pop,DGC/Geffen, Irene Records,Yoyo Recordings,K Records, Substrata |
Lori Goldston (born 1963 or 1964)[1] is an American cellist and composer. Accomplished in a wide variety of styles, including classical, world music, rock and free improvisation, she came to prominence as the touring cellist forNirvana from 1993–1994 and appears on their live albumMTV Unplugged in New York. She was a member ofEarth, theBlack Cat Orchestra, and Spectratone International, and also performs solo.[2]
Raised in the Long Island town ofEast Meadow, Goldston received training on cello, guitar, piano, and voice. She studied cello with Aaron Shapinsky, and guitar with Bob Suppan and Joe Monk. AtBennington College, Goldston trained withMaxine Neuman,Milford Graves, Arthur Brooks,Vivian Fine, and Frank Baker. Goldston dropped out before attaining a degree and would later describe herself as “rigorously detrained.”[3][4]
In 1986, Goldston moved to Seattle.[3] Through the late eighties, Goldston performed with the Run/Remain Ensemble, a multimedia collaboration with Dayna Hanson,Kyle Hanson, Greg Lachow, and Megan Murphy.
In 1989, Goldston co-founded theBlack Cat Orchestra, with Don Crevie on horn, Scott Granlund on saxophone,Jessika Kenney on vocals, and Goldston's partner and fellow Run/Remain alum Kyle Hanson on accordion.[5]
In the mid-nineties, Goldston rose to prominence in the Pacific Northwest music scene as a session cellist, notably joiningNirvana on a US tour and appearing on their famousMTV Unplugged in New York set. Through the nineties and early millennium, Goldston played on dozens of studio albums. Meanwhile, with the Black Cat Orchestra, she toured and recorded for prominent national acts, including David Byrne (on his 1997 albumFeelings),[6] the One Reel Film Festival (at that time under the aegis ofBumbershoot),[2] and NPR'sThis American Life.[7] In 1996, the group recorded and independently released a self-titled debut album. They followed it in 2001 withMysteries Explained, co-produced with Irene Records, and then andLong Shadows at Noon fromYoyo Recordings (2003).[2]
In 2003, Goldston and Hanson entered the first of many collaborations with then-Portland-based artistMirah. The Black Cat Orchestra teamed up with Mirah for the political albumTo All We Stretch the Open Arm. Goldston's group disbanded in 2004, but soon after, she and Hanson founded Spectratone International. Goldston and Hanson reprised their roles on cello and accordion, respectively. They were joined by Kane Mathis on oud, Jane Hall on percussion, and Darko Vukmanic on bass.[8] With Spectratone International, Goldston's rejoined Mirah for the 2007 albumShare This Place: Stories and Observations. For the project, Goldston commissioned stop-motion animator Britta Johnson to make short films for the band to perform against live;Share This Place premiered at the 2006 Seattle International Children's Festival and was performed throughout the US, including theKennedy Center, Museum of Fine Arts,Portland Institute for Contemporary Art's TBA Festival,Henry Art Gallery, andWhat the Heck Fest.[9] Goldston has also appeared as a solo artist on Mirah's recent albums(a)spera (2009) andChanging Light (2014).[10]
In 2005, Goldston formed another ensemble, Instead Of, with Angelina Baldoz (trumpet, flute, and bass), Jaison Scott (drums), and Torben Ulrich (text and vocals). The group independently released the albumLive on Sonarchy in 2007.[11] By 2009, Goldston was also regularly touring and recording withEarth. She appeared on their two-partAngels of Darkness, Demons of Light (2011,2012), but by 2015, Goldston had left the band to pursue independent projects.[4]
As a solo artist, Goldston has recorded and performed around the country and the world. Her work is often eclectic, irreverent, and genre-bending. She has appeared as a voiceover artist on The Dina Martina Holiday Album (playing the role of Martina's eleven-year-old daughter Phoebe);[12] and composed a suite of solo cello work in response to Melinda Mueller's poetry collectionMary’s Dust.[13] She has also worked on numerous dramas, and as a co-creator (withStacey Levine and Goldston's partner Kyle Hanson) of the puppet operaThe Wreck of the St. Nikolai (2003) forOn the Boards and the radio playThe Post Office.[14]
Goldston has worked on performances with composers includingEyvind Kang,Jherek Bischoff,Cynthia Hopkins,Malcolm Goldstein,Matana Roberts,Terry Riley,Eddie Prevost,Steve Moore, Bob Marsh, Olivia Block, Byron Au Yong, Erin Jorgensen, Bill Horist,Threnody Ensemble,Scott Fields, Christian Asplund, and Julio Lopezhiler. She has ongoing and/or long-term collaborations withJessika Kenney, Robert Jenkins (a.k.a. Buzz Gundersen), Paul Hoskin,Ellen Fullman, Angelina Baldoz, Ed Pias, Vanessa Renwick, Greg Campbell,Stuart Dempster, Dan Sasaki, andClyde Petersen.
With an emphasis on improvisational work, Goldston has composed on-the-spot in performances withLonnie Holley,Vratislav Brabenec,Ilan Volkov,Amy Denio,Thollem McDonnas,Mazen Kerbaj,Marika Anderson,Dan Peek,Balász Pándi, Kanako Pooknyw,Stuart Dempster,Dana Reason,Mary Oliver, andJaap Blonk.[15]
From 2015 to 2017, Goldston traveled to Tel Aviv, Athens, and Glasgow for the Tectonics Festival, culminating in a composition for theBBC Scottish Symphony.[16][17][18]
Goldston has been commissioned by numerous established arts organizations, including performing arts companies likeOn the Boards,Portland Institute for Contemporary Art's Time-Based Art (TBA) Festival, theDegenerate Art Ensemble; and art institutions such as theFrye Art Museum, theSeattle Asian Art Museum, the New Foundation, and theHenry Art Gallery.[15]
Numerous theaters, film organizations, and dance companies have commissioned Goldston to compose scores including theOlympia Film Society, the Rebecca Stenn Dance Company, 33 Fainting Spells, Seattle Jewish Film Festival, and the Regenbogen Kino in Germany. Numerous of these commissions, including those forBumbershoot's One Reel Film Festival, Northwest Film Forum, andSeattle International Film Festival, have included composing scores for early silent films.[19] In 2001, Goldston collaborated with filmmakerLynn Shelton on “Our Round Earth” for On the Boards's Northwest New Works Festival and in 2009 scored Shelton's feature filmHumpday.[15][20] She has collaborated extensively with choreographer Peter Kyle composing for dance pieces.[21] She has also contributed to numerous film scores, including the 2016 stop-motion filmTorrey Pines and the documentariesWater Is Life andWhere the House Was.[22][23][24] In 2013, Goldston released a solo album of such work, entitledFilm Scores, through theSub Rosa record label.[25]
In January 2017, Goldston was commissioned to compose and perform a solo acoustic cello score for Étude'sParis Fashion Week runway show. The score was recorded at the ParisRed Bull studio and released as a limited edition LP by Ed Banger.[26][27]
Goldston did a solo set at theLe Guess Who? musical festival in Utrecht, Netherlands in 2021.[28]
Goldston is known in large part for her improvisational work. Her work in cello is notable for a disorienting emphasis onpizzicato, which Goldston has said stemmed from attempts to play her cello like a guitar.[19] Goldston has been heavily influenced by Western classical music and folk tunes, citing theFolkways folk and ethnographic records as childhood touchstones andArnold Schoenberg,Toru Takemitsu,John Cage,George Crumb,Olivier Messiaen, andCarl Maria von Weber as influences later in her life. Though not a jazz musician, Goldston has studied and listened to jazz extensively, particularlyEric Dolphy,Wes Montgomery,John Coltrane,Charles Mingus,Thelonious Monk,Albert Ayler, andPharoah Sanders.[4] At the award ceremony for her 2012Genius Award for Music, Goldston handed the orchestra written directions on how to follow her rather than sheet music, a move she traced back toOrnette Colman.The Stranger said that "listening to her was not entirely an earthbound experience [...] the music could only be described as a storm or flock of sound."[3]
Goldston draws on musical styles from around the world. She has performed as a member of the Seattle Turkish Music Ensemble and Seattle Chinese Orchestra, Volunteer Park Conservatory Orchestra, with Turkish Sufi singer Latif Bolat, Brazilian music with guitarist Marco De Carvalho, Japanese 20th-century and classical repertoire withElizabeth Falconer,Klezmer music with Jack Falk, Lev Lieberman, Sandra Layman, Hank Bradley and Cathy Whitesides.[15]
Goldston has appeared on a number of albums, both for her own bands and as a session musician.
Goldston plays a cello made in Seattle in 2013 by Jason Starkie, modeled after Giovanno Grantino.[67] Prior to 2013 she played an instrument made in the 1950s in the shop of Anton Schroetter.
Electrified, she uses a Schertler pickup through a variety of amplifiers, most often a Softscience modeled after Marshall Plexi, a 1970sFender Deluxe Reverb modified by Kevin Hilbiber of Softscience, a Sunn Beta Lead, or a Soldano Astroverb. Pedals usually include a vintagePro Co RAT and/orMXR Bass Octave Deluxe, often with various combinations ofMXR Phase 90, Boss TR2, Boss RV-6, Cry Baby, and/or Eau Claire Thunder, among others.[68] Goldston also uses one of the first twenty manufactured Juggernautics Fuzz Fixx pedals.[69]
Goldston has received awards and grants from 4Culture,[70]Meet The Composer,Artist Trust, Jack Straw,[71] and Seattle Arts Commission, King County Arts Commission, Allied Arts (as a member of the Run/Remain Ensemble), and was a 2010 City Artist for Seattle.[72] Goldston was also the recipient of aStranger Genius Award in 2012.[3] Most recently, Goldston's work with Steve Fisk and Alexander Miranda was nominated for Best Score forManzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust at the 2021 IDA Documentary Awards.[73]
Goldston, 32...landed a tour date with Nirvana...
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