Dawn Upshaw can hardly believe that her six-year stint as an artistic partner at the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra concludes next weekend.
"It felt like a handful of concerts, even though it was 18," she said from her suburban New York home. "It's sad that it feels over too soon, but life is like that."
The celebrated soprano, a Grammy winner and vigorous champion of new music, will sing selections by Maurice Ravel and George Crumb in three concerts at SPCO neighborhood venues.
The moment is particularly bittersweet for her because an anticipated premiere of a commission from composer Shawn Jaeger, an Upshaw colleague at Bard College Conservatory, had to be shelved because of the recently concluded lockout of musicians. The piece will be rescheduled.
Upshaw helped bring six world premieres to the SPCO, and sang with the ensemble on two trips to Carnegie Hall. Her commission of Maria Schneider's "Carlos Drummond de Andrade Stories" became part of Schneider's album "Winter Morning Walks."
Upshaw admitted that doing interviews is not her favorite thing because "I feel like I end up saying the tritest things." But she was gracious and anything but trite in our conversation.
Q Does it sting to have been affected by the struggles of the classical music world?
A I'm glad you speak about it in a broader sense. I do feel it's a challenge and a struggle that is not unique to the SPCO. Like any moment when one is right in the middle of it, it's hard to gain objectivity and see and envision what the changes will bring. I feel similarly in outlook to when the recording business started to fall apart. What that has in common is a need for change that will need to be addressed. It has, but I get the sense there is more to come.
