She began her vocal career as a talented high school singer in Park Forest, Illinois. Upshaw received a B.A. in 1982 from Illinois Wesleyan University and went on to study voice with Ellen Faull at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, earning her M.A. in 1984. She also attended courses given by Jan DeGaetani at the Aspen (Colorado) Music School. She was a winner of the Young Concert Artists auditions (1984) and the Walter M. Naumburg Competition (1985), and was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Young Artists Development Program. Since her start in 1984, Upshaw has made over 300 appearances at the Metropolitan Opera.
Upshaw came to international fame with her million-selling recording (1993), with David Zinman, of the hauntingly powerful Symphony No 3 by Henryk Górecki, known as the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (Symfonia pieśni żałosnych).
In the past decade she has premiered more than 25 new works and has embraced several works created for her, including the Grawemeyer Award-winning opera L’Amour de Loin by Kaija Saariaho, The Great Gatsby by John Harbison, the nativity oratorio El Nino by John Adams, and Osvaldo Golijov's chamber opera Ainadamar and song cycle Ayre.
Her rendition of Ayre made her appear almost as a charismatic rock-singer. It is a tribute to her vocal range, as well as her star-stature, that she has moved out of the traditional role of a classical singer. Her engagements with James Levine over the years led to a 1997 recording of Debussy songs.
She tours regularly with piano accompanist Richard Goode. Margo Garrett and Gilbert Kalish are also long-standing partners. She has worked with the director Peter Sellars many times, including his staging of Händel's Theodora at Glyndebourne, his Paris production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress (1996), a staging of Bach's cantata BWV 199, presented in the 1995-96 season at New York's 92nd Street Y, and the Salzburg Festival production of Olivier Messiaen's St François d'Assise (1998).
Upshaw was a guest of President of the United States Bill Clinton and Mrs. Clinton on the NBC special, Christmas in Washington. The BBC presented a prime-time telecast of her 1996 London Proms Concert, "Dawn at Dusk", in which she performed songs from the American musical theater.
Dawn Upshaw joined the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra as Artistic Partner beginning with the 2007-08 season, and she is Artistic Director of the Graduate Program in Vocal Arts at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, which accepted its first students in the 2006-2007 academic year. She also is a faculty member at the Tanglewood Music Center.
She holds honorary Doctor of Arts, honoris causa, from Yale University, the Manhattan School of Music, Illinois Wesleyan University and Allegheny College.
Dancing On the Ceiling
Dawn Upshaw Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Because a miracle
Has brought my lover to me
Though he's some other place, his face I see
At night I creep in bed
And never sleep in bed
But look above in the air
He dances overhead
On the ceiling near my bed
In my sight
Through the night
I try to hide in vain
Underneath my counterpane
But there's my love
Up above
I whisper, "Go away, my lover
It's not fair"
But I'm so grateful to discover
He's still there
I love my ceiling more
Since it is a dancing floor
Just for my love
The lyrics to Dawn Upshaw's song "Dancing On The Ceiling" evoke a surrealistic and dreamlike atmosphere. Starting with the phrase "The world is lyrical," the lyrics describe a sense of wonder and enchantment. The singer describes how a "miracle" has brought her lover to her, even though he is physically somewhere else. She describes how she never sleeps in bed, but instead looks above in the air, where her lover dances on the ceiling near her bed. Throughout the night, she tries to hide from him, but he remains there, and she is grateful to have him. She ends the song by saying that she loves her ceiling more since it is now her dancing floor, just for her lover.
The lyrics evoke a sense of longing and desire, as well as a desire for something that is impossible to achieve. The singer is separated from her lover physically, yet he is still with her in some way. The surreal and dreamlike atmosphere of the lyrics also suggests a sense of unreality or illusion. It is as if the singer is living in a dream world, where anything is possible.
Line by Line Meaning
The world is lyrical
The universe seems full of enchantment
Because a miracle
Due to a wonder
Has brought my lover to me
That led my admirer to my path
Though he's some other place, his face I see
Despite being in another location, I can visualize his appearance
At night I creep in bed
I slip under the covers during the night
And never sleep in bed
But don't really close my eyes
But look above in the air
But stare upward through the air
And to my greatest joy, my love is there
To my highest happiness, my love is present there
He dances overhead
He moves above my head
On the ceiling near my bed
On the roof just beside my bed
In my sight
Visible to me
Through the night
All night long
I try to hide in vain
I attempt to conceal without achievement
Underneath my counterpane
Beneath the covers of my bed
But there's my love
Still, my lover appears there
Up above
Overhead
I whisper, "Go away, my lover
I murmur to myself, "My lover, depart
It's not fair"
"It's not just for you to be here."
But I'm so grateful to discover
Yet I'm so appreciative to see
He's still there
That still he remains there
I love my ceiling more
I adore my ceiling even more
Since it is a dancing floor
As it transforms into a dance floor
Just for my love
Completely for my love
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: LIONEL B. JR. RICHIE, MICHAEL HENRY JR. FRENCHIK, CARLOS MANUEL RIOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind