Dawn Derow is a down-to-earth diva. A New Yorker by way of Cape Cod, Dawn grew up in Eastham and began pursuing her performing career in her childhood. She graduated from the Boston Conservatory with a Bachelor’s in Music: Vocal Performance & Opera Emphasis, achieving the second highest vocal score in her class. After graduation, Dawn performed in operas and musicals around the world, as well as a guest entertainer aboard international cruise ships, displaying an uncanny ability to transition from singing a Puccini aria to a jazzy torch song.
In 2008, Dawn began to pursue a career as a cabaret singer. Over the past 12 years, she has performed in prestigious venues, including the Weill Center at Carnegie Hall, Birdland Jazz Club, The Friars Club, Carroll Place, and The Green Room 42.
Dawn’s CD Music 4 TWO with award-winning guitarist Sean Harkness earned her a 2014 nomination for “Best CD” from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC).
In 2015, Dawn won her first MAC award for her work in the duo show REVOLUTION with Kathleen France. In 2016, Dawn employed her formidable opera singing skills in her solo show LEGIT: A Classical Cabaret. She received a Bistro Award for “Outstanding Vocalist” for her performance. Two years later, Dawn won the 2018 MAC Award for “Best Female Vocalist” for her critically acclaimed show, My Ship: Songs from 1941. Dawn released an album of her songs from MY SHIP: Songs from 1941 in the summer of 2021.
Dawn’s most recent show, The House That Built Me, played to packed audiences at the Laurie Beechman Theater. Based on her love for her father’s vast record collection that Dawn grew up listening to, she wove a story of how these songs inspired and helped her blossom into the multi-faceted performer she is today. The set list included classic pop hits and Broadway show tunes from legendary performers such as Judy Collins, Jacques Brel, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, and Rosemary Clooney, as well as contemporary artists P!nk and Miranda Lambert.
To learn more about Dawn, visit her website.
Dawn joins the Cape Symphony for Symphony at the Seashore on Friday, August 26 at the Cape Cod National Seashore.
