Following her performance in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall this past Sunday, Dawn Upshaw is preparing for two more upcoming New York performances: two nights, November 12 and 14, at Lincoln Center's Gerald Lynch Theater, in a production of György Kurtág's Kafka Fragments. Upshaw first brought the piece to Zankel Hall in 2005, under the direction of Peter Sellars and with violinist Geoff Nuttall, both of whom return for the current iteration. The production heads next to Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Zellerbach Playhouse in Berkeley later in the month.

Leading up to these events, the New York Times has published a feature profile of the soprano, in which she discusses her involvement with the piece and with other contemporary works that have evolved from collaborations with composers. That sort of experience is something she and composer Osvaldo Golijov have encouraged through their joint professional training workshops with emerging singers and composers, at Carnegie Hall and Bard College Conservatory in upstate New York. Upshaw tells Times writer Steve Smith that she encourages young musicians to explore a wide variety of musical styles and artists, including those outside the traditional conservatory realm, such as Björk.

Ultimately, she approaches the many artistic endeavors with which she is involved with a similar purpose: "I feel I’m doing the world—or my audience—the most good by bringing things to them that I either feel have an important message or bring perspective or beauty to their lives, and do it as honestly as I can," she tells Smith. "That’s the goal at the moment."

Read the complete article at nytimes.com. Learn about upcoming performances at nonesuch.com/on-tour.