Dawn Upshaw

A prominent lyric soprano, Dawn Upshaw maintains an expansive catalog of both operatic roles and art songs while focusing intensively on modern compositions. Her recital presentations often explore unconventional formats, and she has introduced numerous significant new works to audiences worldwide.

Born in Nashville, Tennessee, on July 17, 1960, she grew up in Park Forest, Illinois, near Chicago. After distinguishing herself in her high school choir, she pursued vocal training at Illinois Wesleyan University before transferring to the Manhattan School of Music, where Ellen Faull served as her instructor and she completed a master’s degree in 1984. That same year she captured first place in the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, prompting Metropolitan Opera music director James Levine to invite her into the company’s Young Artists Development Program. The following year she won the Naumburg Competition in New York, which led to initial minor assignments at the Met that quickly expanded into major parts. She has performed there more than 300 times, taking on numerous Mozart heroines as well as Mélisande in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande and the Angel in Messiaen’s St. François d’Assise.

Among the leading parts written specifically for her are Daisy Buchanan in John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby and Clemence in Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de loin, introduced at the Salzburg Festival; Osvaldo Golijov composed the chamber opera Ainadamar expressly for Upshaw. She has taken part in many other contemporary productions across the United States and Europe, including the premiere of John Adams’s Christmas oratorio El Niño, and she regularly performs orchestral songs spanning both Romantic and modern repertory.

Early in her career Upshaw attracted particular notice as a recitalist who frequently arranged programs that integrated new music in fresh contexts. Her Alice Tully Hall debut occurred in 1986, after which she appeared at such prominent halls as the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Although she actively promotes contemporary works in this setting as well, she also embraces musical theater and popular song. She typically devotes two-thirds of each season to recitals rather than staged opera. A regular participant at California’s Ojai Festival, she served as its director in 2011. An avid chamber-music partner, she has collaborated with pianist Richard Goode and with ensembles including the Kronos and Arditti Quartets.

Her discography comprises more than thirty-five solo albums plus numerous opera and orchestral recordings. The majority of these releases appeared on Nonesuch, though she has also recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical, and Erato. One of her earliest successes, the 1992 account of Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No. 3, attained gold-record status. She has earned three Grammy Awards in the Best Classical Vocal Soloist category—for Knoxville: Summer of 1915 in 1989, The Girl with Orange Lips in 1991, and Winter Morning Walks in 2014—as well as awards for Best Chamber Music Performance (Berg: Lyric Suite with the Kronos Quartet, 2003) and Best Opera Recording (Golijov: Ainadamar with the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus, 2006). In 2007 she received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. She joined the So Percussion ensemble and pianist Gilbert Kalish in 2021 for a recording of Catherine Shaw’s song cycle Narrow Sea.