Lori Goldston 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 for Nirvana from 1993–1994 and appears on their live album MTV Unplugged in New York. She was a member of Earth, the Black Cat Orchestra, and Spectratone International, and also performs solo.
Career
Training and early bands (1970s–1991) Raised in the Long Island town of East Meadow, Goldston received training on cello, guitar, piano, and voice. She studied cello with Aaron Shapinsky, and guitar with Bob Suppan and Joe Monk. At Bennington College, Goldston trained with Maxine 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.”
In 1986, Goldston moved to Seattle. 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 the Black 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.
Nirvana's MTV Unplugged session and studio recordings (1994–2003) In the mid-nineties, Goldston rose to prominence in the Pacific Northwest music scene as a session cellist, notably joining Nirvana on a US tour and appearing on their famous MTV 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 album Feelings), the One Reel Film Festival (at that time under the aegis of Bumbershoot), and NPR's This American Life. In 1996, the group recorded and independently released a self-titled debut album. They followed it in 2001 with Mysteries Explained, co-produced with Irene Records, and then and Long Shadows at Noon from Yoyo Recordings (2003).
Later bands and collaborations with Mirah (2003–2015) In 2003, Goldston and Hanson entered the first of many collaborations with then-Portland-based artist Mirah. The Black Cat Orchestra teamed up with Mirah for the political album To 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. With Spectratone International, Goldston's rejoined Mirah for the 2007 album Share 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 the Kennedy Center, Museum of Fine Arts, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art's TBA Festival, Henry Art Gallery, and What the Heck Fest. Goldston has also appeared as a solo artist on Mirah's recent albums (a)spera (2009) and Changing Light (2014).
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 album Live on Sonarchy in 2007. By 2009, Goldston was also regularly touring and recording with Earth. She appeared on their two-part Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light (2011, 2012), but by 2015, Goldston had left the band to pursue independent projects.
Solo work
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); and composed a suite of solo cello work in response to Melinda Mueller's poetry collection Mary’s Dust. She has also worked on numerous dramas, and as a co-creator (with Stacey Levine and Goldston's partner Kyle Hanson) of the puppet opera The Wreck of the St. Nikolai (2003) for On the Boards and the radio play The Post Office.