Latest news with #RufusWainwright
Kuwait Times
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Kuwait Times
Rufus Wainwright's ‘Dream Requiem' explores catastrophe and redemption
The historic Mount Tambora volcanic eruption spewed so much ash and debris that it triggered a 'year without summer' and the apocalypse seemed nigh - an apt parallel to our own chaotic existence, says the eclectic musician Rufus Wainwright. The artist's ambitious modern-day requiem, which draws inspiration from the 19th-century catastrophe as well as the Requiem Mass, will premiere stateside on Sunday in Los Angeles, with narration by the actor and activist Jane Fonda. The Canadian-American Wainwright composed 'Dream Requiem' as the globe was picking up the pieces after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, and turned to Lord Byron's poem 'Darkness' which is centered on the fear and disarray that followed the 1815 Mount Tambora eruption. The artist, best known for his distinct theatrical pop, has focused more on opera in recent years and said the poem is all the more prescient given the looming threat of climate cataclysm, as well as our tumultuous contemporary politics. US-Canadian singer-songwriter and composer Rufus Wainwright poses during a photo session at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. 'In this day and age, it's a similar kind of intense sense of doom,' Wainwright told AFP in an interview ahead of the Los Angeles show. 'I think we're a little less misguided than they were back then, but who knows what the future holds?' Wainwright's global premiere of 'Dream Requiem' was at the Auditorium de Radio France in Paris last summer, with Meryl Streep narrating and featuring soprano Anna Prohaska. A recording of the work is available from Warner Classics. Wainwright said Fonda's participation in the upcoming performance with the Los Angeles Master Chorale lends additional intensity to the piece, given her long history of activism and her special emphasis in recent years on climate change. 'She's one of the great heroines,' he said of the storied 87-year-old film star. 'Certainly with what America has been through in the last couple of months, I think it'll be very powerful.' And that the show's US premiere comes mere months after deadly wildfires ravaged parts of Los Angeles adds yet another layer, he said. Soprano Liv Redpath (left) sings while US conductor Grant Gershon (right) directs the LA Master Chorale during a rehearsal of Rifus Wainwright's "Dream Requiem". Wainwright has written two classical operas, set Shakespearean sonnets to song and produced a tribute concert to Judy Garland in addition to releasing a string of pop albums. He has a particular penchant for Giuseppe Verdi: 'When I was 13, I listened to Verdi's Requiem from top to tail, and it was like I'd been infected by a virus,' he said. Musical settings of the Catholic Requiem Mass are themselves known as requiems; Verdi's tells of the death-fearing living who seek deliverance. 'I've always been more at ease, you know, communicating dread and foreboding,' the 51-year-old Wainwright said. But it's not all gloom, he added: 'A few weeks after I premiered it, and I had some distance from it, I realized, oh no, there is hope. There is sort of this little glimmer of life.' — AFP 'Redemption and forgiveness' go hand in hand with the dread, and 'I like to maintain some modicum of hope,' Wainwright said. 'Hopefully this is sort of like a resurrection, shall we say, of both that feeling of dread -- but also that need to face the music and deal with the problem at hand.'--AFP
eNCA
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- eNCA
Rufus Wainwright's 'Dream Requiem' explores catastrophe and redemption
LOS ANGELES - The historic Mount Tambora volcanic eruption spewed so much ash and debris that it triggered a "year without summer" and the apocalypse seemed nigh -- an apt parallel to our own chaotic existence, says the eclectic musician Rufus Wainwright. The artist's ambitious modern-day requiem, which draws inspiration from the 19th-century catastrophe as well as the Requiem Mass, will premiere stateside on Sunday in Los Angeles, with narration by the actor and activist Jane Fonda. The Canadian-American Wainwright composed "Dream Requiem" as the globe was picking up the pieces after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, and turned to Lord Byron's poem "Darkness" which is centred on the fear and disarray that followed the 1815 Mount Tambora eruption. The artist, best known for his distinct theatrical pop, has focused more on opera in recent years and said the poem is all the more prescient given the looming threat of climate cataclysm, as well as our tumultuous contemporary politics. "In this day and age, it's a similar kind of intense sense of doom," Wainwright told AFP in an interview ahead of the Los Angeles show. "I think we're a little less misguided than they were back then, but who knows what the future holds?" Wainwright's global premiere of "Dream Requiem" was at the Auditorium de Radio France in Paris last summer, with Meryl Streep narrating and featuring soprano Anna Prohaska. A recording of the work is available from Warner Classics. Wainwright said Fonda's participation in the upcoming performance with the Los Angeles Master Chorale lends additional intensity to the piece, given her long history of activism and her special emphasis in recent years on climate change.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Immersed in Knoxville, the world finds common ground through the sounds of Big Ears 2025
Durations, signatures, tempos and rhythms. So much about music has to do with time. But just as musicians booked March 27-30 across Big Ears Festival 2025 have set themselves apart by innovating outside the agreed-upon standards, the concept of time danced between familiar and what felt like figments on the final day of the festival in Knoxville, Tennessee. In the middle of the day, a dark theater renovated for vaudeville in the early 1900s hosted an electronic Icelandic group that innovated in the early 2000s, a buffer between two equally unique musical exhibitions. As East Tennessee mandolin prodigy Wyatt Ellis was performing across town at a former train depot where people his age go to prom, influential singer-songwriter and composer Rufus Wainwright was using his platform at the "Scruffy City's" Civic Auditorium to speak to an international audience about the tensions between the Canadian-American's home countries. Whether you were there and part of the moments that made this year special or you're just curious what this critically acclaimed, yet under-the-radar festival is all about, we have you covered with our favorite moments from Knoxville. KEEP SCROLLING THROUGH PHOTOS BELOW AND READ THEIR CAPTIONS FOR THE FULL STORY Walking into a Big Ears venue can feel like walking into another world. And if you had to pick a theme for this year's festival, "immersive" would do the trick. Several performances across the weekend pulled audiences out of reality, taking them on a visual journey and deeply drawing them further into the music through coordinated lighting, traditional attire and, in some cases, an overwhelming amount of sound. Hitting the theme right on the head, the aptly named duo Immersion took the Regas Square crowd on a journey through the desert to the tropics and from the clouds to the deep sea. While virtuosic jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding appeared to the Knoxville Civic Auditorium as nothing but a silhouette formed by blue backlighting, light was projected onto the walls of Church Street United Methodist and reflected off the stained glass windows as ambient artist Steve Roach paired up with the Brooklyn-born "Age of Reflections" project to paint the already stunning sanctuary with an array of colorful designs synced to the sounds of the influential composer. It wasn't anything in the sushi tacos or meatballs that were set out. The "secret sauce" of Big Ears is the city that hosts it, said festival founder and Knoxville native Ashley Capps, who's made it a tradition to invite those who make the festival possible to the Knoxville Museum of Art to kick off the festival weekend each spring. Fans of the music the festival puts on − including the artists themselves − are just as much fans of the four-day event, as the renowned Knoxville concert promoter has built a reputation among artists, industry professionals, music enthusiasts and aficionados for fostering collaborations that wouldn't happen elsewhere. Pianist Lara Downes, pictured alongside Capps, was the musical guest of the event and was selected, in part, because of her pre-festival arrival in Knoxville to meet with a variety of local groups to learn what the founding principles of the Declaration of Independence mean to them ahead of the country's 250th anniversary. Downes' culminating performance of "The Declaration Project" will take place July 2026 at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. "What the hell? A 1 p.m. show? Who's even going to show up," EMEL reflected upon while speaking to the jam-packed crowd at Jackson Terminal just past noon. The Tunisian-American singer-songwriter's signature voice, paired with heavy beats, rocked all four walls and made fans move all four limbs during an awe-inspiring sonic and visual exhibition. Not only do Big Ears fans show up, but they arrive from all over the world. "Like many of you here, I'm from Brooklyn," said "Age of Reflections" co-founder Bob Maynard to a Knoxville crowd more than 700 miles away from New York. Knox News had a chance to hang out with Mike Yaeger, one of Big Ears' biggest fans, who told us he's come to know 120 people by name at Big Ears after making it a point to travel to Knoxville for the world-renowned festival every chance he gets. We also set up shop at The Emporium all weekend to share fun facts about Knoxville, provide recommendations and share how to find our festival photos. Strolling down Gay Street on Big Ears weekend, you noticed conversations about March Madness replaced by debates over musical arrangements, philosophical dialogue about the effects of music on the mind and the excited name-dropping of anticipated artists who might sound unfamiliar but whose music is masterful and widely acclaimed. When the sun goes down, the party heats up at Big Ears, and things get wonderfully wild and weird. But to think that for a second we believed Les Claypool − pictured right and later self-identified as "Steve" for some reason − as he filled in fans on some news they must have missed. Something about modern technology being used to discover beneath Egyptian pyramids 'the biggest Buc-ee's you've ever heard of.' The father of flamenco-style bass that slaps and taps in its quirky Claypool way was joined at The Mill & Mine on March 28 by a 'Bastard Jazz' band, also pictured, that matched the eccentric energy of its leader, Les. It was all so delightfully strange, funky and fun. The following night, with a crowd salivating for something high energy, hip-hop group clipping cut through the careful listening norms to get Big Ears bouncing at Jackson Terminal until Saturday became Sunday. With a repertoire that's seemingly unending, Daveed Diggs traded his planet-saving role in the TV show "Snowpiercer" and his Tony-winning "Hamilton" personas for the experimental sounds of his hip-hop project, which packed the room wall-to-wall for the sweatiest, steamiest set we saw all weekend, as fans let loose and heated up the venue. With the Scruffy City being Big Ears' "secret sauce," it's only fitting the world and Knoxville find ways to come together through the festival's programming. Pretentious in the Old City hosted a jam session among artists signed to Joyful Noise, as well as the collaborative "Molten Soundscapes." This glass-blowing performance by owner Matthew Cummings, whose shop makes the glasses you drink from at his brewery next door, was accompanied by music from Texas-based percussionist Thor Harris. And with the festival winding down, the Knoxville Opera Gospel Choir took Knoxville to church on Sunday while making some personal history by collaborating with another vocal group for the first time in its 15-year history. After being joined by the Dedicated Men of Zion quartet at the special open-to-the-public event at the Civic Auditorium, choir director Jeanie Turner Melton told Knox News she "felt the energy here." "We just came together in love and in peace and harmony and so, in the spirit of things, I think that the whole concert was excellent," she said. "I would look forward to doing it again next year." While we'll have to wait and see what next year's lineup has in store, Big Ears will be back. And when it returns, so will the world. Knox News reporters Hayden Dunbar and Keenan Thomas contributed to this report. Ryan Wilusz is the business growth and development editor. Phone: 865-317-5138. Email: Instagram: @knoxscruff. Devarrick Turner is a trending news reporter. Email On X, formerly known as Twitter @dturner1208. Joanna Hayes is the restaurant and retail reporter. Email: | Sign up for the free Eat65 newsletter Support strong local journalism by subscribing at This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Big Ears Festival brings world together for musical Knoxville weekend
CBC
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Rufus Wainwright mourns the death of the American Dream with his first requiem
Rufus Wainwright is a difficult artist to categorize at the best of times. The Canadian-American musician has recorded pop songs, folk music, operas and stage musicals, but his latest album, Dream Requiem, is something entirely different, even for him. A requiem is a religious work: a mass for the dead. While Wainwright isn't necessarily a religious person (he describes himself as being spiritual or agnostic), he says he approached the project with complete sincerity. "You have to become a believer when you compose a requiem," Wainwright tells Q 's Tom Power in a Zoom interview. "I think for me, the main thing is that there's such a kind of religious thrust in America now, especially with the right wing and so forth. And I very much, in composing the piece, started to really think about Jesus and what he means and what I think the message is. And I had to say, you know, 'Yes, I think it's about love, it's about redemption, it's about resurrection, it's about peace.'" WATCH | Rufus Wainwright: Dream Requiem live in Paris: Dream Requiem was born from several sources of inspiration, including Lord Byron's apocalyptic poem Darkness, the music of Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, and Puccini — not the composer, but rather Wainwright's beloved dog who died in 2020 after a tragic accident involving another dog. Wainwright also managed to recruit Meryl Streep to narrate the project. "It's a role," he says. "It's not an easy thing to do." You have to become a believer when you compose a requiem. - Rufus Wainwright But recently, on a flight to Barcelona for the Spanish premiere of Dream Requiem, Wainwright says he realized what the piece is really about: the death of the American Dream. "It suddenly dawned on me like a ton of bricks," he says. "I was like, 'Oh, Dream Requiem. It's also kind of the death of the American Dream.' What we're experiencing right now politically in the U.S., and subsequently then in the world … it's just this collapse of what America was. And look, I'm not even sure if it will be horrific or amazing. I mean, at this point, it's just so crazy, the whole thing. But it is, nonetheless, the death of the world that we lived in previously." Wainwright's new album, Dream Requiem, is out now. He'll be touring the requiem later this year, performing it in Los Angeles in May and Amsterdam in June.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘I'd dress as Judy Garland and scare my parents': Rufus Wainwright's honest playlist
The song I do at karaoke My daughter is a typical teenager. She's 13 and not interested in much that I do, but the other day I was singing Begin the Beguine by Cole Porter and she actually came down and asked: 'What the hell was that?' So that song has some magic to it. It always elevates the world around me. The song I can no longer listen to Stephen Sondheim is brilliant, but I can't stand Send in the Clowns. It just gets on my tits. Yes, I know that's a very British expression. I'm pandering to you guys. The first single I bought Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by Eurythmics, on 45, from this great record store in Montreal called Phantasmagoria, when I was 10. I'd seen Annie Lennox on television and felt as if I was witnessing a celestial being. The best song to play at a party The Way You Make Me Feel by Michael Jackson. I find pre-Thriller Michael Jackson is less overt. The song that changed my life I was about four or five when I first saw The Wizard of Oz on television. When I heard Judy Garland sing Over the Rainbow, it instantly became my anthem, and I subsequently started dressing up like Judy and scaring my parents. The song I inexplicably know every lyric to Hotel California by the Eagles has been hammered into me inexplicably. I'm always drawn to the story and melody through morbid curiosity. The song I secretly like, but tell everyone I hate I hate all of the pro-American, crazy flag-waving crap, but The Star-Spangled Banner, the American national anthem, is a hell of a lot of fun to sing. It's got a real payoff. The Whitney Houston version deserves to be the most famous version. Have I ever been asked to sing it? Not yet. I'm not sure if I would. The song that gets me up in the morning Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen is one of the great energising songs. It acknowledges the sadness, but gets you going. The song that makes me cry I covered Heading for Home by Peggy Seeger on my Folkocracy record. What I love is that it's about accepting age and embracing death. The song I want played at my funeral I would have a viola piece called Offertorium from my new classical album. I've always loved classical music, but now that I'm a classical artist, it doesn't come up if you put 'Rufus Wainwright'. It only comes up if you put 'Wainwright'. So now I'm officially mononymous, like Mozart and Madonna. Rufus Wainwright's new classical album, Dream Requiem, is out now.
