Dawn Upshaw
A leading lyric soprano, Dawn Upshaw has a large repertory of song and opera. She specializes in contemporary music, is known for her adventurous recital programs, and has given many important world premieres.
Upshaw was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on July 17, 1960, but was raised in Park Forest, Illinois, outside Chicago. She became a star in her high school choral program and went on to study voice at Illinois Wesleyan University. Upshaw went on to the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Ellen Faull, and earned a master's degree in 1984. She won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions competition that year, and Metropolitan Opera director James Levine asked her to join the Met's Young Artists Development Program. She won the Naumburg Competition in New York in 1985 and was soon finding minor parts at the Met, and then larger ones. She has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera more than 300 times in a wide variety of roles, including many Mozart parts, Mélisande in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, and the Angel in Messiaen's St. Françoise d'Assise. Upshaw has created major roles, including Daisy Buchanan in John Harbison's The Great Gatsby and Clemence in Kaija Saariaho's opera of L'Amour de loin (the latter at the Salzburg Festival in Austria); Osvaldo Golijov's chamber opera Ainadamar was composed for her. She has appeared in many contemporary operas, both in the U.S. and abroad. She premiered John Adams' Christmas oratorio El Niño, and she has a large repertory of orchestral songs, Romantic and contemporary.
From the beginning, however, Upshaw received unusual interest as a recital performer, often devising programs that presented contemporary music in novel ways. She made her debut at Alice Tully Hall in New York in 1986 and has gone on to appear at top international venues, including the Théâtre Champs Elysées in Paris, London's Wigmore Hall, and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. In this field, too, Upshaw has championed contemporary music, but she is also an enthusiastic interpreter of musical theater and popular song. Upshaw generally reserves two-thirds of each season for recitals rather than opera. She has been a frequent guest at the Ojai Festival in California and directed that festival in 2011. Upshaw is an enthusiastic chamber music collaborator and has appeared with pianist Richard Goode and with such groups as the Kronos and Arditti Quartets.
Upshaw has a large catalog of recordings, issuing more than 35 solo releases as well as appearing on numerous operatic and orchestral albums. She has mostly recorded for the Nonesuch label but has also appeared on Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical, Erato, and other imprints. Upshaw's best-selling recording came early in her career: in 1992, her recording of Henryk Górecki's vocal Symphony No. 3 reached gold record status. She has received three Grammy Awards for Best Classical Vocal Soloist (in 1989, for Knoxville: Summer of 1915, in 1991 for The Girl with Orange Lips, and in 2014 for Winter Morning Walks), as well as one for Best Chamber Music Performance (in 2003 with the Kronos Quartet, for Berg: Lyric Suite), and one for Best Opera Recording (2006 ,with the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus for Golijov: Ainadamar). Upshaw received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (popularly known as a "genius grant") in 2007. In 2021, she joined the So Percussion ensemble and pianist Gilbert Kalish for a recording of Catherine Shaw's song cycle Narrow Sea.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Gorecki: Symphony No. 3
Dawn Upshaw, London Sinfonietta, David Zinman
Classical - Released by Nonesuch on 7 Jun 1991
The Qobuz Essential Discography24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
SAARIAHO, K.: 6 Japanese Gardens / Pres / Lonh (Hoitenga, Upshaw)
Dawn Upshaw, Anssi Karttunen, Camilla Hoitenga, Florent Jodelet, na Not Applicable
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Ondine on 1 Jan 1997
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kaija Saariaho : La Passion de Simone
Dawn Upshaw, Dominique Blanc, Tapiolan Kamarikuoro, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Ondine on 5 Mar 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
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Caroline Shaw : Narrow Sea
Dawn Upshaw, Gilbert Kalish, So Percussion
Electronic - Released by Nonesuch on 22 Jan 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Knoxville: Summer Of 1915
Opera - Released by Nonesuch - Warner Records on 25 Oct 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress
Dawn Upshaw, Jerry Hadley, Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon, Kent Nagano
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Golijov: Oceana, Tenebrae, 3 Songs
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dawn Upshaw Sings Vernon Duke
Opera - Released by Nonesuch on 19 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Angels Hide Their Faces: Dawn Upshaw Sings Bach and Purcell
Opera - Released by Nonesuch on 4 Jun 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Górecki, Henryk: Kleines Requiem Für Eine Polka/Harpsichord Concerto/Good Night
David Zinman, Dawn Upshaw, London Sinfonietta, Elzbieta Chojnacka
Classical - Released by Nonesuch - Warner Records on 13 Jun 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Golijov: Ayre / Berio: Folksongs
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Golijov: Oceana, Tenebrae, 3 Songs, Last Round
Dawn Upshaw, Kronos Quartet, Luciana Souza
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 2 Jul 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Forgotten Songs
Art Songs, Mélodies & Lieder - Released by Sony Classical on 28 Mar 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Golijov: Oceana, Tenebrae, 3 Songs, Last Round
Dawn Upshaw, Luciana Souza, Kronos Quartet
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 2 Jul 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Girl With Orange Lips
Opera - Released by Nonesuch on 2 Aug 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hommage à Jane Bathori (APEX)
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Warner Classics International on 3 Sep 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Narrow Sea, Pt. 2
Dawn Upshaw, Gilbert Kalish, So Percussion
Electronic - Released by Nonesuch on 9 Dec 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 4
Christoph von Dohnányi, Dawn Upshaw, The Cleveland Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Mar 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo