Dawn Upshaw – Press

“…it was Upshaw who captivated the audience with her clear tone and unfussy style. The performance was a master class in what singing should be – selfless storytelling and inspired vocal expressivity.”

“Equally impressive was her responsiveness to the text: Near the end, she sang the line “calma e silenzio, senza peccato e senz passione” (“calm and silent, without sin or passion”) with extraordinary restraint and a chilling, washed-out tone.”

“The emotions in her Schoenberg were intense.”

“She can float a beautiful high note, but the singing that was called for her was a straightforward, almost childlike sound, and that’s what she delivered: a voice free of operatic allures, sometimes sounding taxed and a little frayed by the demands of the music.”

“While the demands that Winds of Destiny placed on the whole ensemble seemed staggering, Upshaw rightly stood center stage. The subtleties of her inimitable interpretation are difficult to describe or to generalize. Hollow and plaintive — amplified yet deliberately restrained — her voice sounded like swallowed pain thrown under a microscope.”

“Upshaw’s singing was nimbly tailored to these different worlds, bringing fluidity and grace to Shaw’s music and an explosive vitality to Crumb’s.”

“Upshaw’s voice sailed at climactic sections and hid exquisitely at more intimate moments, all the while poised over the orchestra’s sensitive colorations.”

“Ms. Upshaw has been an energetic champion of contemporary and American composers; her lively rendition of a set of cabaret songs by William Bolcom proved a highlight of the afternoon. She brought a wry charm to his ‘Song of Black Max,’ and a jovial sensibility to the quirky ‘Toothbrush Time.’ She infused the mellow ‘Waitin’ ’ with a poignant intimacy.”

“Dawn Upshaw displayed effortless musicianship and narrative magic Sunday with a substantial program… The emotional range of sweetness, longing, and agony gave Upshaw the latitude to soar and summon considerable power and intensity.”

“Nobody is better equipped for this music than soprano Upshaw and pianist Kalish. Upshaw‘s specifically American way of projecting the English language is all but essential, but even more gratifying was her willingness to go where the music takes her, never keeping an objective distance.”

“You couldn’t tear your eyes away from Upshaw’s presentation, as she inhabited the moods and characters of these poetic texts, and she connected to listeners all the way to the last row… She was an involved storyteller, gesturing operatically to convey each tale. She brought meaning to each word of text.”