Get to Know Me

Rickie Gole’s interest in singing began in the sixth grade in Cleveland, Ohio, watching a show called Hootenanny with her dad. It was a broadcast from college campuses of folk music concerts. Having grown up on Frank, Ella and Broadway musicals, she found a type of music that spoke to her. Soon allowance was spent on an acoustic guitar and Rickie became a combination of Joan Baez, Mary Travers and Judy Collins, playing coffee houses. The odd thing was that everyone said that she sounded like an opera singer.

Rickie’s career as a classical singer led to performances with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Boston Symphony, New Mexico Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Pacific Symphony and American Youth Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Youth Orchestra of New York, to name a few.

She has graced the stages of the Long Beach Grand Opera, Cleveland Opera, Asolo Opera, Lake George Opera Festival, Capital Artists and Euterpe Opera in such roles as Carmen, Hansel, Cherubino, Suzuki, Siebel and Meg Page.

Rickie has performed in musicals as Hodel, Julie Laverne and the Mother Abbess at the Music Theater of Wichita, Memorable Occasions Theater and the Beverly Hills Playhouse.

Her awards include two fellowships to the prestigious Tanglewood music festival and a Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music grant. She was twice a finalist in the WGN “Auditions of the Air” at the Chicago Opera. As a member of the Los Angeles Vocal Arts Ensemble she can be heard on their recording “A Little Sondheim Music.”

Rickie is a member of Actor’s Equity and SAG, and has sung many national commercials. She is a former faculty member of California State University of Los Angeles. She holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Voice from the University of Illinois, where she had the honor to work with John Wustman and Mark Elyn. She credits her last teacher Giorgio Tozzi (international opera star) with her fine singing and methodology. Her musicality was enhanced through coaching with Armen Guzelimian.

Rickie Gole is one of the most sought after voice teachers in Los Angeles. She boasts a studio of stars that have appeared on TV, film and the Broadway stage. Among them are Danica McKellar, Mayim Bialik, Wilson Cruz and Adam Wylie. She has taught more than 200 students of all ages, in every genre, from Rock to Pop, Broadway to Classical. Rickie has been training students professionally for over 25 years.

Rickie is the proud mother of Hannah and David, and grandmother to Meir.