Dawn Upshaw
(born July 17, 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee) is a world-renowned American soprano described as "one of the most consequential performers of our time" by the Los Angeles Times. The recipient of several Grammy Awards 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, Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Adams, and Kaija Saariaho, have written for her, and her artistic achievements are extensive. In 2007 she was awarded a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant". [1]
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Overview
She began her vocal career as a talented Rich East High School singer in
Park Forest, Illinois. Upshaw received a B.A. in 1982 from
Illinois Wesleyan University and went on to study voice with
Ellen Faull at the
Manhattan School of Music in
New York, earning her M.M. 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 International Auditions (1984) and the
Walter M. Naumburg Competition (1985), and was a member of the
Metropolitan Opera Young Artists Development Program. Since her start in 1984, Upshaw has made over 300 appearances at the
Metropolitan Opera.
Upshaw came to international fame with her million-selling recording (1993), with
David Zinman, of the hauntingly powerful
Symphony No 3 by
Henryk Górecki, known as the
Symphony of Sorrowful Songs
(
Symfonia piesni zalosnych
).
In the past decade she has premiered more than 25 new works and has embraced several works created for her, including the
Grawemeyer Award-winning opera
L’Amour de Loin
by
Kaija Saariaho,
The Great Gatsby (opera)
by
John Harbison, the nativity
oratorio El Niño
by
John Adams, and
Osvaldo Golijov's highly acclaimed
chamber opera Ainadamar
and
song cycle Ayre
.
Some feel that her rendition of
Ayre
made her almost seem a charismatic rock-singer. It is a tribute to her vocal range, as well as her star-stature, that she has moved out of the traditional role of a classical singer. In addition to her operatic recordings, she has also sung the title role in the first complete recording of the score of
Gershwin's
Oh, Kay!
[2].
She has also recorded albums of songs by
Vernon Duke and
Rodgers and Hart [3]. Upshaw was a guest of
President of the United States Bill 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. 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 has worked with the director
Peter Sellars many times, including his staging of
Händel's
Theodora
at
Glyndebourne, his
Paris production of
Stravinsky's
The Rake's Progress
(as part of the
Los Angeles Philharmonic and
Esa-Pekka Salonen's month-long residency at the
Théâtre du Châtelet) (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). Ms. Upshaw has often performed as a soloist at the annual
Ojai Music Festival in Ojai, CA; most recently in 2006, 2008 and 2009.
Dawn Upshaw joined the
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra as Artistic Partner beginning with the 2007-08 season, and she is 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. She also is a faculty member at the
Tanglewood Music Center.
She holds honorary
Doctor of Arts,
honoris causa, from
Yale University, the
Manhattan School of Music,
Illinois Wesleyan University and
Allegheny College.
Upshaw is married and a mother of two. 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.
[4]
Awards and recognitions
2007 MacArthur Fellow
:
- Named a prestigious genius awardee
2006 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording
:
- The Atlanta Symphony and Chorus with Dawn Upshaw for Golijov: Ainadamar (Fountain of Tears)
2003 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance
:
- The Kronos Quartet & Dawn Upshaw for Berg: Lyric Suite
1991 Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Soloist
:
- Dawn Upshaw, artist for The Girl with Orange Lips (Falla, Ravel, etc.)
1989 Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Soloist
:
- Dawn Upshaw, artist for Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Music of Barber, Menotti, Harbison, Stravinsky)
Works (selection)
- 1992: Symphony No. 3 (Henryk Górecki), Nonesuch Records, Ordercode 7550-79282-2
References
- MacArthur Foundation
- ''Oh, Kay!'' restored by Tommy Krasker, starring Dawn Upshaw and Kurt Ollmann, Roxbury Recordings (Nonesuch 1995)
- ''Dawn Upshaw sings Rodgers & Hart'', recorded NYC June 1995, (Nonesuch 1996)
- www.metoperafamily.org