Rufus Wainwright loves performing with symphonic backing
Credit to Author: Stuart Derdeyn| Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2019 18:00:02 +0000
Rufus Wainwright with the VSO
When: Nov. 6, 8 p.m.
Where: Orpheum Theatre, 601 Smithe
Tickets and info: From $31 at vancouversymphony.ca
Performing on his own with a piano and guitar in the Oh Solo Wainwright setting or being backed by the Grammy-winning Vancouver Symphony Orchestra are decidedly different things. But Rufus Wainwright says that both productions ultimately showcase the same thing. Big or small, the singer’s unmistakable tenor and so-called “popera” songwriting is going to be the focus.
“My solo work is really my day/night job in the troubadour tradition, where I go out to entertain the village,” said Wainwright. “But these occasional orchestra shows are something far more robust sonically and it’s an exciting event. At the heart of it, for better or for worse, I’m an artist who became this opera fanatic at a very young age and, therefore, imbued a lot of drama and intense exploration into my material.”
Performing with orchestra backing is old hat for an artist whose music has also always embraced elements of cabaret and Broadway show tunes. No less a name than Van Dyke Parks turned up on Wainwright’s self-titled debut, adding the kind of lush signature orchestrations that have adorned albums by acts ranging from the legendary Beach Boys album Smile to U2 and others. Subsequent releases saw Wainwright performing the entire set from Judy Garland’s legendary 1961 Carnegie Hall concert, which became the album Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall. His version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow is a fan favourite at his symphony shows.
“I’ve always had this ravenous appetite for a great melody,” he said. “Whether it’s in a Broadway show or an opera, I’m into it. My daughter has recently become enamoured of a Jonas Brothers track and I can even find a tune there. I won’t be singing any Jonas Brothers’ material in the coming show, as we haven’t got that far yet.”
Rather than changing the arrangements, he mostly favours “remaining loyal” to the original concept of his songs when performing with an orchestra. There are some exceptions in the set which he admits that he has had some fun with. As someone who has two operas to his credit, it’s almost impossible for him to avoid getting the charts out and playing with the orchestrations.
“I Don’t Know What It Is from Want One (2003) is one of my most uptempo, driving pop songs, with lots of drums and such,” he said. “But when I do it live, I’ve played around with it and turned it into this Wagnerian realization moment. I play with some of it, but not too often.”
Not surprisingly, Teutonic flourishes and operatic tendencies play well in Europe. Wainwright enjoys a firm fan base throughout the continent, where he tours regularly. The European tradition of operatically-trained singers working in the pop idiom is alive and well to this very day.
“When my first album arrived, I couldn’t get arrested in Europe, aside from a little bit of attention in the UK,” he said. “Most of my audience was in Canada and the United States, and then Europe got it. They have now officially won the marathon by maintaining their appreciation at a more consistent level, although I still enjoy healthy audiences in Canada and the U.S.”
Lately, Wainwright’s focus of attention has been the premiere of his second opera. Titled Hadrian, the work had its Canadian Opera Company premiered at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto on Oct. 13.
With music by Wainwright and libretto from acclaimed playwright Daniel McIvor, NOW Toronto described the story set around Roman Emperor Hadrian grieving his dead lover Antinous as “refreshingly queer.”
Wainwright’s first opera, Prima Donna featured a French libretto that the singer co-authored with Bernadette Colomine. Premiering in July 2009, the story of an aging opera singer’s planned comeback was released on the influential Deutsche Grammophon label in 2015.
Given that the sweet spot in between opera and pop is really the Broadway musical, why hasn’t Wainwright chosen to pen one yet? And would he consider bringing McIvor on board for such a project?
“Hadrian went really well in Toronto, and it’s going other places,” he said. “Having worked in the theatre now for some time, I’m realizing that it would be really silly if I didn’t write one soon. Daniel and I have a very electrified relationship, so who knows?”
Fans attending the VSO performance aren’t likely to be treated to any highlight medleys from either Hadrian or Prima Donna. Rather, they can enjoy such hits as his breakout single Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk, the tender Go or Go Ahead or introspective Poses. The Bard will likely drop into the performance as Wainwright’s most recent release was Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets where he adapted nine of William Shakespeare’s sonnets to music. The 2016 tribute was released to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the English writer’s death. His version of Sonnet 20 is a highlight with solo piano accompaniment and would certainly fly with a full symphony’s backing.
“It’s all pretty much set, as you would expect with the rehearsal requirements,” he said. “There won’t be any of my opera bits, but there will be some Judy and, you know, I can be operatic nonetheless.”
Given his familiarity with Judy Garland’s work, it made sense to ask Wainwright what he thought of Renee Zellweger’s recent bio pic Judy.
“Oh, I saw the movie and it’s a fantastic performance in a good, old-fashioned Hollywood mass entertainment movie,” said Wainwright. “You can kind of see why those kinds of films fell out of favour for awhile, but she is really exceptional in it and it’s a lot of fun. She really inhabits the part completely.”
This is high praise coming from a vocalist who has built a career out of inhabiting his songs, right down to the fierce emotional conflicts they often express. Wainwright certainly went through his battles, particularly his abuse of crystal meth and heavy drinking binges which threatened to do him in back in the early 2000s. One particularly intense binge left the singer temporarily blind and he entered rehab in 2002. In interviews, Wainwright says meeting his husband, theatre producer Jörn Weisbrodt, probably was key to his salvation.
The couple has a daughter, Viva Katherine, born in 2011 via surrogate. The mother was Lorca Cohen, daughter of the late legendary poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen. A Wainwright album covering Cohen’s music would certainly be an interesting project.