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Rufus Wainwright Tickets, Tour Dates and Concerts

Rufus Wainwright

Want Symphonic

Feb 7, 2025

8:15 PM GMT+1
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Rufus Wainwright Tickets, Tour Dates and Concerts
About this concert
Want One and Two released in short order, one in 2003 the other in 2004, are as iconic as it can get in an iconic musician's catalog. Rolling Stone wrote that "Wainwright's fanciful songs about love and faith place him in the rarefied company of Bjork and Brian Wilson." The Guardian even suspected that "the American Screen Actors Guild has amended its membership rules: you want to work in this town, you'd better go on about how much you like Rufus Wainwright" and then continues to say "Wainwright is never short of something to say. This makes him an anomaly amid current big singer-songwriters". David Bowie praised "Dinner at Eight" as the "best father/son song he knew, calling Rufus "simply one of the great writers." Paste Magazine elevated Want One to the No. 1 album of the year and Rolling Stone Magazine put it on no. 5 of their best albums of 2003 list. “This album is also a glorious musical adventure with Wainwright's vocals -- sweet and unerringly hopeful -- reaching out so disarmingly that they make you feel at home amid even the most "daunting" of instrumental moments.” (LA Times) The instrumental moments of these albums produced by Marius de Vries (Madonna, Bjork, Massive Attack, David Bowie) are even heightened for Want Symphonic and you can be sure to feel even more at home: in the glorious and voluptuous House of Rufus. 20 years later Wainwright has revisited both albums in a series of orchestral shows. The "breathtaking and eccentric opulence" (German Rolling Stone) of the original songs will be translated into new lush symphonic arrangements by Sally Herbert (Woodkid, Florence + the Machine) and Max Moston (Antony and the Johnsons). In 2023, Want Symphonic was performed by Rufus at the Proms in London and the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony. In 2024, he brought his vocal magic to Glasgow with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Santa Fe Symphony. Want Symphonic is a sonic Shangri-La for 60 classical musicians, drummer Matt Johnson (Jeff Buckley, St. Vincent) and Wainwright's “velvety truffle of his voice” (London Times). On the single show night, Wainwright will perform a large selection of songs from both albums. Wainwright says "Want One and Two are maybe the most epic of my albums. They are the two sides of a coin or better my personality, the male and the female, the knight in shining armor and the innocent maiden, ecstasy and restraint, glory and doom, decay and creation, the mature and the child. I am excited to bring these songs to a new level with all new symphonic settings. There is nothing more exciting than singing in front of a huge orchestra."
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Live Photos

Rufus Wainwright at Rotterdam, Netherlands in De Doelen 2025
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What fans are saying

Caroline
January 13th 2025
Rufus was in great form, no band, just himself and his guitar and piano. And Folk Bitch Trio, who were brilliant. They were the support act, and they returned to sing several songs with Rufus, and then the final encore. He has such a rich repertoire from which to choose - he opened with Agnus Dei and closed with Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk. The highlights for me were The Art Teacher and Dinner at Eight. I don't think there's too much to say about his voice, to me it's very distinctive, and his presence is utterly charismatic. There was a small element of drama when he broke one of his fingernails playing I'm Out of the Game at the start of the show! He wore the best sequined shoes and a couple of brooches on his all-black outfit - so Rufus!! He's brilliant and not to be missed if you have the opportunity to see him.
Melbourne, Australia@
Melbourne Recital Centre
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About the venue

Right in the middle of Rotterdam’s vibrant city centre and at a stone’s throw from the magnificent Central Station, you'll find concert hall de Doelen. De Doelen is home...
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Rufus Wainwright Biography

Affectionately referred to by Elton John as “the greatest songwriter on the planet” and praised by the New York Times for his “genuine originality,” Grammy nominee Rufus Wainwright has established himself as one of the great male vocalists and songwriters of his generation. He is the son of folk singers Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle and the brother of Martha Wainwright, but Rufus has achieved his success by carving out his own singular sound in the worlds of rock, opera, theater, dance and film.

Rufus has released seven studio albums and three live albums to date, including his acclaimed GRAMMY® nominated Rufus Does Judy At Carnegie Hall! which captured his celebrated Judy Garland tribute performance at the London Palladium in 2007. Rufus has received Juno Awards for Best Alternative Album in 1999 and 2002 for Rufus Wainwright and Poses, respectively, and nominations for his albums Want Two (2005) and Release the Stars (2008). He was nominated for Songwriter of the Year in 2008 for his Release the Stars album.

In May 2012, Rufus released Out Of The Game, his most commercial work to date, a collaboration with mega-producer Mark Ronson. A labor of love for both Wainwright and Ronson, Rufus calls Out of the Game, “the most pop album I’ve ever made,” with Ronson stating: “it’s the best work of my career.” The album debuted Top 25 in retail and has received widespread critical acclaim. Randall Roberts from the Los Angeles Times called Rufus’ “ability to maneuver through complex emotions one of Wainwright’s strengths” and calls Out Of The Game “an essential recording.” Mikael Wood from Entertainment Weekly calls the album “a lush, soul-infused disc…” with People Magazine’s Chuck Arnold proclaiming “the theatrical Wainwright scores an outright winner with more accessible fare.”

Rufus has performed many notable shows with some of the world’s best orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra playing original orchestrated pop songs and pieces from an extensive classical repertoire. Rufus composed Fire Shakespeare Sonnets for the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, which made its US debut in November 2010 and its UK premiere in March 2012 with the sixty-piece BBC Symphony Orchestra. He worked with the famed director Robert Wilson on a theatrical adaptation of the Sonnets at the Berliner Ensemble in 20090.

Wainwright’s much acclaimed first opera, titled Prima Donna, premiered at the Manchester International Festival in July 2009. The opera made its London debut at Sadler’s Wells in April 2010, and its North American debut in Toronto at the Luminato Festival in June 2010. Prima Donna made its long-awaited US debut in February 2012 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House. Rufus has been commissioned by the Canadian Opera Company to write his second opera, based on the story of the Roman Emperor Hadrian and Antinous. The new opera will premiere in Toronto October 2018.

Musically Rufus has collaborated with many artists including, most recently, Robbie Williams, co-writing and dueting on the title track of Robbie’s Swing Both Ways album. Rufus has also worked with Elton John, Paul Simon, Antony Hegarty, David Byrne, Joni Mitchell, Guy Chambers and Boy George among others.

Vibrate: The Best of Rufus Wainwright will be released on March 3, 2014 on Universal records. The new collection’s single-disc and digital edition features 18 standout songs that define one of modern music’s most innovative talents, as well as a brand new recording, “Me and Liza.” Rufus will make his eagerly anticipated live return to tour Europe in March, and he has confirmed U.S. dates in Spring 2014 to support the release of Vibrate.
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