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PUBLIC ON SALE: FRIDAY, APRIL 22 @ 10 AM

For the first time in 7 years, Rufus Wainwright released a brand new studio album during the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 titled “Unfollow the Rules.” Produced by Mitchell Froom, this album is the bookend to his debut album that garnered him Best New Artist by American Rolling Stone Magazine in 1998 and can be seen as a summary and climax of all his previous albums, a work of true maturity. It was nominated for a Grammy and Juno and has been met with great critical acclaim. 

“Just extraordinary, just breathtaking..” – NPR All Songs Considered 

“An opulently crafted highlight reel, a career-spanning sampler of the singer’s many styles and guises.” – Pitchfork

“Nobody sings quite like Rufus Wainwright.” – The New Yorker

“Lush, theatrical.” – All Music 4 star review

“Sleek….It has an urgency, wisdom, and a measured calmness that expressly speaks to today.” –Spin

“What I would like this album to symbolize is a coming together of all the aspects of my life which have made me a seasoned artist,” says Wainwright. “My aim is to emulate the greats of yore whose second acts produced their finest work – Leonard Cohen when he made THE FUTURE, when Sinatra became Sinatra in his 40s, when Paul Simon put out GRACELAND. Pop music isn’t always about your waistline. Many songwriters improve with age. I’m flying the flag for staying alive!”

Rufus has been embarking on a worldwide tour with a spectacular three-piece band since September 2021. Fans old and new in the US and the UK so far have experienced the singer-songwriter in the absolute prime of his vocal abilities. The London Times wrote after his sold out Palladium show “When he unleashes that velvety truffle of a voice, …you want it to go on and on.” and The Arts Desk says that “Wainwright certainly knows how to pace a concert, and the performance he gives borders on the operatic, pushing his voice to highs and lows that seem sometimes to defy the odds.” He now takes his band to the Pacific Northwest and across Canada. Audiences can expect a glorious mixture of deep emotion, drama, wit, solace, uplift, entertainment and absolute musical bliss, a journey that not many artists can take you along on.

Praised by the New York Times for his “genuine originality,” Rufus Wainwright has established himself as one of the great male vocalists and songwriters of his generation. The New York-born, Montreal-raised singer songwriter has released seven studio albums, three DVDs, and three live albums, including the fantastic Grammy nominated Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall, which captured his celebrated Judy Garland tribute performance at the London Palladium in 2007, and the album Release The Stars which went Gold in Canada and the U.K.
Wainwright 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. He also composed the original music for choreographer Stephen Petronio’s work BLOOM which has toured across the country.
Musically Rufus has collaborated with artists including Elton John, David Byrne, Boy George, Joni Mitchell, Pet Shop Boys and producer Mark Ronson among others. His most recent collaboration is on the title track of Robbie Williams’ latest album, Swings Both Ways, which was co-written with renowned musician and producer Guy Chambers and sung as a duet between Rufus and Robbie.
In addition to being a celebrated contemporary pop singer, Rufus has made a name for himself in the classical world. His much acclaimed first opera, titled Prima Donna, premiered at the Manchester International Festival in July 2009. The opera was subsequently performed in London at Sadler’s Wells in April 2010, in Toronto at the Luminato Festival in June 2010 and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House in February 2012. Now fully established as a composer of operas, Rufus was 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, Hadrian, premiered in Toronto on October 13, 2018.