"Dawn Upshaw: The dawn of a renewed voice"

 
Soprano Dawn Upshaw

Soprano Dawn Upshaw returns to the stage February 8 for the first time since her breast cancer diagnosis last August. she recently spoke with David Stabler of The Oregonian newspaper:

"Last summer's news didn't shock her, Upshaw said from her home in Westchester, N.Y. Eight years ago her sister was also stricken with breast cancer. Her sister is fine, now, but Upshaw knew she herself was at risk.

'I figured, someday, I'd get a call,' she says.

Surgery removed two tumors, followed by two months of chemotherapy, which wasn't as bad as she feared, she says. 'Nothing unbearable, nothing even close to being unbearable. But it wasn't fun.'"

Read the preview of Dawn Upshaw's Portland Oregon performance, Dawn Upshaw: The dawn of a renewed voice.

Seventeen days after she sings in Oregon, Upshaw will step onto the stage at Jordan Hall in Boston, something which, in this age of increased cancer survival rates, probably surprises few of us. But the collective relief is almost audible.