Dawn Upshaw

Soprano Dawn Upshaw, winner of the 1985 Naumburg competition, has built an international career encompassing opera, art song, orchestral repertoire, and new music. A five-time Grammy Award winner and 2007 MacArthur Fellow, she has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, Salzburg, Glyndebourne, and leading concert halls worldwide.

Her operatic repertoire ranges from Mozart’s Susanna, Pamina, and Ilia to works created for her by contemporary composers. These collaborations include John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby, Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de loin and La Passion de Simone, John Adams’s El Niño, and Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar and Ayre. At the Metropolitan Opera, she made nearly 300 appearances.

Upshaw’s recital programs bring lieder into conversation with contemporary song, folk traditions, and popular music. Her discography includes more than 50 recordings, among them Górecki’s Symphony No. 3 and Maria Schneider’s Winter Morning Walks, which earned her the 2014 Grammy for Best Classical Vocal Solo.

Teaching is central to Upshaw’s artistic life. She heads the Vocal Arts Program at Tanglewood Music Center and was the founding artistic director of Bard College Conservatory’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program. She also works with young singers through master classes and workshops at conservatories, universities, and festivals.

Photo: Brooke Irish