Ilana is one of a handful of professional violinists in the UK playing klezmer music in the traditional style. She is the latest link in a musical chain stretching back centuries, having learned aurally from living exponents of the tradition and through recorded sources dating back to the dawn of the recording era. Ilana has introduced hundreds of people of all ages to klezmer playing through a course at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), at workshops around Britain and in France, and at events like the Genius of the Violin Festival, KlezFest London, and Witney folk weekends. 

Ilana's klezmer bands are FDT Klezmorim, a traditional 4-piece ensemble; Freylekh Klezmer Dance Band, an all-women band featuring saxophones; and Crimes Against Klezmer, which has an international line-up. She has been a guest artist with bands including the She'Koyokh Klezmer Ensemble, Klezmer Klub and Klezmik. Ilana also enjoys playing English and Celtic folk music; she performed the Scottish fiddle solo in the world premiere of Nigel Hess's ballet suite 'The Old Man of Lochnagar' at Sadler's Wells in October 2007.

Ilana also performs on the baroque violin and viola da gamba, and has toured and recorded with the European Union Baroque Orchestra, The Sixteen, and Victoria Voices and Viols. She appears regularly with Linden and Essex Baroque Orchestras, Suffolk Baroque Players and her own group, The Lantana Ensemble.

Ilana studied traditional klezmer fiddle technique with Deborah Strauss, Alicia Svigals and Michael Alpert, leading violinists in the revival of this Eastern European Jewish folk music. Her baroque violin studies included lessons with Catherine Mackintosh, Walter Reiter, Andrew Manze and Mimi Mitchell, and she also studied the viola da gamba with Richard Boothby. Ilana gained an ARCM (PG) as a result of her year of post-graduate studies at the Royal College of Music.