Salon Solèy: Inhabiting Text & Music in Contemporary American Art Song

An A.D. White Professors-at-Large Keynote Public Event

Salon Solèy: Inhabiting Text & Music in Contemporary American Art Song
Led by Dawn Upshaw (GRAMMY-award winning soprano; A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell)
Thursday, October 22, 2026
7:30pm ⋅ Barnes Hall
Free & open to all ⋅ Advance ticket required.

What does it mean to truly inhabit a song? In this special edition of the Cornell Voice Program’s Salon Solèy, A.D. White Professor-at-Large Dawn Upshaw will host student singers and pianists in an evening centered on the intimate relationship between text, music, imagination, and embodied performance in contemporary American art song.

Drawing from more than seventy years of repertoire by composers including Margaret Bonds, George Crumb, Caroline Shaw, and others, the acclaimed American soprano and teacher will explore with participants the distinctive interpretive demands—and expressive treasures—of contemporary song.

Cosponsored by the Dept. of Music.

Dawn Upshaw is an internationally acclaimed soprano, five-time GRAMMY Award winner, and the first vocalist to receive a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2007). Celebrated for the warmth, intimacy, and expressive intelligence of her singing, Upshaw has forged an extraordinary career spanning opera, concert performance, recital, contemporary music, and higher education leadership. She has appeared on the world’s leading stages, including nearly 300 performances at the Metropolitan Opera, where she made her debut in 1984. In recognition of her lasting artistic and cultural impact, Upshaw was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2008) and inducted into the Opera Hall of Fame (2020) as part of its inaugural class.

Upshaw is also widely respected as an educator, mentor, and institutional leader. Since 2014, she has served as Head of the Vocal Arts Program at the Tanglewood Music Center. She was the founding Artistic Director of the Vocal Arts Program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music (2006). In 2025, she joined the faculty of Yale University as Professor in the Practice of Music, where she teaches vocal repertoire and performance. Full bio.