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Dawn Upshaw (born July 17, 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee), is an American soprano. The recipient of several Grammy- Gramophone-, and Edison Prize-winning discs, Upshaw is at home both in opera and art song, and in repertoire from Baroque to contemporary; many composers, including John Harbison have written for her, and she has worked repeatedly with the director Peter Sellars, in his staging of Händel's Theodora at Glyndebourne, his Paris production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress (1996), a staging of Bach's cantata BWV 199, presented in the 1995-96 season at New York's 92nd Street Y, and the Salzburg Festival production of Olivier Messiaen's St François d'Assise (1998).
Overview
Upshaw received a B.A. in 1982 from Illinois Wesleyan University (which later awarded her an honorary doctorate), and went on to study voice with Ellen Faull at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, earning her M.A. in 1984. She also attended courses given by Jan DeGaetani at the Aspen (Colorado) Music School. She was a winner of the Young Concert Artists auditions (1984) and the Walter M. Naumburg Competition (1985), and was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Young Artists Development Program. She was also awarded the Doctor of Arts, honoris causa, by Allegheny College on May 15, 2005.
Her engagements with James Levine over the years led to a 1997 recording of Debussy songs. She tours regularly with piano accompanist Richard Goode; Margo Garrett and Gilbert Kalish are also long-standing partners.
She came to international fame with her recording (1993), with David Zinman of the hauntingly powerful Symphony No 3 by Henryk Górecki, known as the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (Symfonia pieśni żałosnych).
Upshaw was a guest of President Clinton and Mrs. Clinton on the NBC special, Christmas in Washington. The BBC presented a prime-time telecast of her 1996 London Proms Concert, "Dawn at Dusk", in which she performed songs from the American musical theater. She has recently been noted for her involvement in singing the new works of Osvaldo Golijov and for her partnership with him in developing his music. This has moved her out of the traditional role of a classical singer: Upshaw is known for the emotion she puts into acting as well as singing her parts but her rendition of Ayre made her appear almost as a charismatic rock-singer. It is a tribute to her vocal range as well as her star-stature. Ayre has been published by Deutsche Grammophon.
In May 2006, she performed with Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra for a short period. The performances included Osvaldo Golijov's Three Songs for Soprano and Orchesta.
Dawn Upshaw is currently the artistic director of the Graduate Program in Vocal Arts at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, which accepted its first students in the 2006-2007 academic year.
Dawn Upshaw is married and a mother. She lives near New York.
Upshaw was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer and began aggressive treatment in November, 2006. According to her manager, Upshaw's current prognosis is excellent.
Awards and Recognitions
Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:
- The Kronos Quartet & Dawn Upshaw for Berg: Lyric Suite (2004)