Dawn Upshaw (born July 17, 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee), is an American soprano. Applauded in the opera houses of New York, Paris, Salzburg, and Vienna for her portrayals of the great Mozart roles, she is equally renowned for work in more remote corners of the repertory - most recently, as the title character in Händel's Theodora, triumphantly staged in Glyndebourne by Peter Sellars. Her advocacy of contemporary music is compellingly evident in a broad range of solo recordings, among which are several Grammy, Gramophone, and Edison prize winning discs. Dawn Upshaw holds a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music and an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, Illinois Wesleyan University.