IRIS concert selections special to soloist Upshaw

Dawn Upshaw will sing "Three Songs" for Soprano and Orchestra, written especially for her by Oswald Golijov.

Today's IRIS Orchestra concert aims high.

The guest artist is Dawn Upshaw, the acclaimed soprano who has four Grammys and pursues a wide range of performance, from opera to art song to contemporary.

Dawn Upshaw will sing "Three Songs" for Soprano and Orchestra, written especially for her by Oswald Golijov.

The concert will include Upshaw singing Stravinsky's "Two Poems of Constantin Balmont" for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble, and "Three Japanese Lyrics" for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble.

She will also perform "Three Songs" for Soprano and Orchestra, written especially for her in 2002 by Oswald Golijov. Upshaw has had a strong association with Golijov, one of the world's top contemporary composers.

"Three Songs," she said in an interview this week, came about in a fairly unusual way.

A piece Golijov had been writing for another performer had to be put off when the soloist fell ill. In order to come up with a new piece fairly quickly, the composer got creative and did a work for Upshaw.

"He took three existing pieces that were written either for other instruments or ensembles than the orchestra," Upshaw said.

She was already familiar with some of the pieces in their original incarnations.

"All three pieces come from separate places -- previous lives -- and it was in a way surprising how well they fit together," she said. "They created kind of a new animal all their own in the combination."

It's a welcome return for Golijov. His "Last Round for Strings" was performed two years ago by IRIS and proved to be a stunner of a piece.

The Stravinsky works are also special to Upshaw.

"I had worked on these at the very beginning of my professional career," she said, "and got back to them recently. They're just so beautiful and delightful, like little miniatures. They create this color and sound world that is so pristine and detailed and just very lovely."

Also on the program is maestro Michael Stern leading the orchestra in Rossini's "The Barber of Seville Overture," Bartók's "Romanian Folk Dances" and Beethoven's "Seventh Symphony."

IRIS Orchestra with soprano Dawn Upshaw

8 p.m. today, Germantown Performing Arts Centre, 1801 Exeter Road. Tickets: $55. Dress rehearsal (10 a.m. to 1 p.m. today) is $10 and will feature the orchestra only. For more information, go to irisorchestra.org or call 751-7500.

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