American soprano Lena Goldstein graduated cum laude from Yale University in Spring 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

In the 2022-2023 season, Lena appeared in operatic roles as Maurya in Vaughan William’s Riders to the Sea and La Fée in Viardot’s Cendrillon with the Opera Theatre of Yale College, and Eurinda in Cavalli’s Doriclea with the Yale Baroque Opera Project. In concert settings, Lena was a featured soprano soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and Ravel’s Trois poèmes de Mallarmé with the Yale Undergraduate Chamber Orchestra, and Nico Muhly’s The Beauty of the Day with Chanticleer and the Yale Glee Club. She also premiered two major works by composer Benjamin Beckman, singing The Young Soldier in the world premiere Passage, an evening length chamber opera, as well as a new song cycle, Hartley Songs, at the Yale University Art Gallery.

This summer she studied as a Professional Artist at Songfest (performing works by Heggie, Berlioz, and more) and returned to Chicago Summer Opera to perform The Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. 

In the 2021-2022 season, Lena attended Classic Lyric Arts in France and appeared as Laurie in Copland’s The Tender Land with Chicago Summer Opera. Lena sang songs by Aaron Jay Kernis and David Lang with the Yale Symphony Orchestra contemporary chamber ensemble. She participated in masterclasses with W. Stephen Smith, Glenn Morton, and Gaspard Brecourt.

Lena was named a winner of the MD/DC District NATS competition and finalist in the NATS Mid-Atlantic Regional competition, Hal Leonard Vocal Competitions, and semifinalist in the Schmidt Vocal Arts Upper Level Undergraduate Competition. Lena has been awarded the Schmidt Vocal Arts alumni grant, as well as the R.J.R Cohen Performance Fellowship, Howard T. Topol Award, Richter Fellowship, and the V. Browne Irish Prize at Yale University. 

Also passionate about arts administration, Lena served as the managing director of the Opera Theatre of Yale College in the 2019-2020 season. Outside of music, Lena is involved in healthcare entrepreneurship as the founder of Overdose Guardian, a NIH-funded medical device startup, as well as the former director of the Yale Helix Incubator, and as an intern for Tectonic Ventures. She also worked as a student tour guide at the Yale Center for British Art, as a fellow at the Sycamore Institute, and as a staff writer for the Yale Global Health Review. Check out her other projects.