News
Feb 07, 2012
Oakland Show Announced, Presale Starts Tomorrow
UPDATE: Our presale has sold out! The public sale will begin on February 12 at Ticketmaster.
Just announced: On May 11, Rufus and the band will play the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA. The RufusWainwright.com presale for this new date will begin tomorrow, February 8, at 10 am PST.
These tickets won't last long, so make sure you're logged in and ready to go at that time! Don't have an account? Create one now!
For a look at all of Rufus' upcoming tour dates, please visit the Tour page now, and keep your eyes open for more announcements soon!
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Jan 31, 2012
New Show in Charlottesville, VA
Rufus has a newly-announced show happening March 21 at the Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville, VA, and we've got your presale tickets.
Beginning February 1 at 10 am EST, log into your RufusWainwright.com account for your chance at some of the best seats in the house.
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Jan 31, 2012
Pre-Order 'Out of the Game'
Update: Out of the Game is now available to pre-order at Amazon.com and at Amazon.ca.
We have a ton of news about Rufus' new album, Out of the Game.
First up, for those of you in the UK, Rufus' latest studio will be out on April 23 on Polydor and you can pre-order it starting today, as a CD (regular and deluxe editions), LP, or digital download.
Anyone who places an advance order before 9 am GMT on March 26 will also have access an exclusive ArtistTicket.com presale for some yet-to-be announced UK dates happening in autumn 2012. Order today and stay tuned for more details on these new shows.
Decca will release Out Of The Game in Canada on April 24 and in the US on May 1. Stay turned for presale details coming very soon. To make sure you don't miss out, be sure to "like" Rufus on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.
In the meantime, we've got some more details on the record in the press release below, as well as the final track listing.
- Out Of The Game
- Jericho
- Rashida
- Barbara
- Welcome To The Ball
- Montauk
- Bitter Tears
- Respectable Dive
- Perfect Man
- Sometimes You Need
- Song Of You
- Candles
Produced by Mark Ronson, Out of the Game is the seventh studio album from one of the very best contemporary songwriters.
Rufus says it's, "the most pop album I've ever made" while Mark Ronson believes, "it's the best work of my career." Both sentiments can be heard between the grooves of this marriage made in heaven. Recorded in New York last autumn, the 12 tracks sparkle and shine.
From the uptempo opening chords of the title track and first single to the gospel tinged rock of "Jericho", through the beauty of "Sometimes You Need" and the emotional pull of "Candles", this new disc ranks alongside Rufus Wainwright's very best.
Musicians on the album include the Dap Kings, who Mark used for the groundbreaking Amy Winehouse Back To Black CD and his own Record Collection; Wilco's Nels Cline; Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs; Andrew Wyatt from Miike Snow; Sean Lennon and Martha Wainwright.
Influences, as ever, were all encompassing. Mark says Out of the Game, "has a real 70's, Laurel Canyon spirit" while Rufus cites, "all the greats — Elton, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, basically the brash and beautiful. It's also very Rufus." Without a doubt, Out of the Game covers all the bases.
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Jan 24, 2012
Rufus Talks Prima Donna, Tickets Now Just $25!
Prima Donna is a just a few short weeks away from its New York City Opera premiere, and rehearsals at the Brooklyn Academy of Music are well underway. This past weekend, as part of the Guggenheim Works & Progress series, Rufus, Production Director: Tim Albery, Associate Director: Joanna Turner and Conductor Jayce Ogren sat for a lengthy and free-wheeling discussion. Click here to watch that discussion now at UStream.tv.
If you don’t yet have your tickets for Prima Donna, you’ll be glad to know that, thanks to a generous gift from The Reed Foundation and The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation,
all remaining tickets are just $25! For more information, show times, and to order, please visit Bam.org now.
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Jan 15, 2012
An Evening with Rufus & Martha
On February 3, Rufus and sister Martha will peform at Pappy & Harriet's in Pioneertown, Ca. General admission tickets for this intimate show are on sale now at TicketWeb. Only 200 are available, so order now!
For a look at all of Rufus' upcoming dates, please visit the Tour page now.
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Jan 13, 2012
New Spanish Date Announced
A new date has just been added to Rufus' Spring European tour: On May 4, he and the band will perform at the Alhambra's Auditorio Del Generalife in Granada. Presale tickets go on sale Monday at ArtistTicket.com.
For a look at all of Rufus' upcoming shows, please visit the Tour page now.
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Jan 05, 2012
A Not So Silent Night Is Online
Right now on CBC.ca, you can hear (or revisit) the Montreal edition of the annual "A Not So Silent Night" concert, recorded in December 2011 at the Théâtre Saint-Denis. As you may know, this annual Christmas concert has been happening since 2005, and the sixth edition featured performances by 27 artists, including many members of the McGarrigle/Wainwright clan. Proceeds from the night went to The Kate McGarrigle Cancer Fund, honouring the memory of Rufus' mother.
Visit the CBC's Concerts On Demand page to hear the concert in it's entirety, and view some photos from the evening's festivities.
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Jan 04, 2012
An Operatic Request From Rufus Wainwright
Dear Friends,
In starting this email I am once again reminded of how many times over the years I've had to step out of the clock, put thumbs to buttons, take a deep breath and write either a request or announcement (but ALWAYS an invitation!) to take part in a certain project or cause that I'm involved with artistically.
Be it the Judy shows, Kate McGarrigle Tributes or Blackoutsabbath, to name only a few, I've always gotten a great range of responses, from enthusiastic excitement or rights to remain silent, and in the end have made it a personal law to never take anything too, well, personally, in terms of whether or not people step up to the plate with their time or money or not.
This time it's different.
On Sunday, February 19 at 1:30 pm at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), my very first and highly acclaimed opera about the interior life of a singer in the twilight of her career, Prima Donna, will hopefully be having its New York City premiere and subsequent three performances in one of the finest halls in America.
I'm completely overjoyed by this possibility and look forward to giving my little girl, Regine St. Laurent, a complex and demanding character filled with longing and drama, a proper U.S. home after all she's had to contend with considering her inception at the Metropolitan Opera and the long voyage she has taken since that now famed rupture.
It's been quite a journey comprising of both life and death and everything in between (my mother died after the premiere in Manchester and my daughter was born not long after), and I strongly believe that the piece has absorbed a great deal of depth due to both these facts and the gifts of its various artistic handlers along the way and will be in not only my opinion, once it lands in New York, fully formed and a viable part of the operatic repertoire.
Perhaps you've noticed an air of caution in my unveiling of this beloved project, (no I'm not being facetious) with words like "hopefully" and "possibility" flying around.
I wish this wasn't the case.
Though ironically enough, since its inception, this little spitfire of an opera has always inhabited a rather stormy environment and seems comfortable with worldly tremors. Hell, with a name like Prima Donna I wouldn't expect anything less!
But in all seriousness, none of these questions concerning the run are due to the piece or the amazing cast and conductor we have set up thanks to the New York City Opera, but to some very challenging times that the hallowed opera company itself has been facing very publicly in recent days.
Here it is in a nutshell: there are currently very intense negotiations with the musician's union in terms of the future of the NYCO and if talks break down and there's a strike, the company will likely be decimated, thus leaving the city of New York with only one large opera house where as all the great cultural cities of the world have at least two. Is New York not a great cultural city? Yes, that is a rhetorical question.
Anyway, swept away with Prima Donna's New York premiere will be the livelihood of countless present and future musicians, technicians, composers, directors and audience members who will be robbed of one of the main arteries where the artistic climax that only opera can provide occurs. Plus, this is the company where Beverly Sills, Placido Domingo and Renee Flemming (but to name a few) began their careers and with only one major stage for opera left in the city that essentially panders to superstar performers, conductors and directors (which I'm not necessarily complaining about), only the Met will remain and there will be no variational step for artists to take before they truly "make it" at Lincoln Center, steps that frankly for the most part can be vastly more interesting to witness for an audience, and our fair city has long had the privilege of experiencing.
Phew! A lot to say. Let's wrap it up. Essentially what I'm asking is that due to this present situation, a big early interest in Prima Donna would really boost the moral and physical prospects for both my piece and the New York City Opera as a whole. If it's perceived sooner than later that people are intent on seeing Prima Donna (which I know you are) and we all start helping now in the company's survival, I think it definitely sends out a big message that we as a public cherish our great institutions and care about their existence, and that without a variety of them, the arts in general are in grave danger, not to mention the integrity of our beloved town, the Big Apple.
Over the years I've asked for money for concerts, cancer charities, environmental causes and in the end of the day have been able to contend and absorb the realities of peoples' hectic lives and lack of time to help, coupled with tremendous generosity. All that is well and good, but this is my baby and opera is my religion. In truth I feel more passionately for this strange artistic universe then anything in the world, or as the old Rogers and Heart song goes: "I go to opera and stay wide awake....that's why the Lady is a tramp!"
Please reserve your tickets ASAP and help send a message out that we care about this grandest of arts and its future.
Love Rufus.
Here is the link to purchase online, or to purchase by phone one can call NYCO Ticket Services:(212) 870-5600 (Monday-Friday, 10:00am-6:00pm)
Happy New Year!
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Dec 15, 2011
Rufus & The Pennsylvania Ballet
In February 2012 the Pennsylvania Ballet will stage Pushing Boundaries, a trio of contemporary works that includes 11:11, Choreographer in Residence Matthew Neenan's 2006 ballet set to six of Rufus' songs, including "Vibrate", "Poses" and "Oh, What A World".
For more information, dates and to buy tickets, please visit PABallet.org.
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Dec 07, 2011
Stereogum's Progress Report
Head on over to Stereogum to read a new interview with Rufus where he discusses his forthcoming Mark Ronson-produced album, Out Of The Game, as well as the NYC premiere of Prima Donna, and more!
Click here to read the interview now.
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Nov 30, 2011
New European Dates Announced
UPDATE: The presale has ended, but tickets are now available to the general public. Please visit the Tour page for up-to-date ticket links!
Heads up! Rufus has just announced a series of five new dates in Europe and the UK, starting in April 2012, with more details to come in the weeks ahead. All of these new shows will feature Rufus performing with a full band. For a look at these newly announced dates, please visit the Tour page now.
Beginning Thursday, a limited number of tickets will be available through ArtistTicket.com. These won't last long, so make sure you order right away!
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