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| Promotional card for Rufus Wainwright with the Minnesota Orchestra. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor) |
Last Saturday night my wife and I went to see Rufus
Wainwright with the Minnesota Orchestra. We’ve seen him several times before,
at Orchestra Hall in 2010, at the Minnesota Zoo in 2012, and at the Fitzgerald Theater in 2013. Wainwright always puts on a good show, and last week’s concert
was no exception, as he performed some of his best songs in front of a deeply
appreciative audience.
Wainwright is a difficult performer to try to categorize, as
his music mixes pop, classical, Broadway, and opera in a style that is
distinctively his own. His beautiful, soaring voice adds greatly to the flavor
of his music-there is simply no one else that sounds like him. Wainwright’s songs sounded great with the Minnesota Orchestra,
under the baton of Sarah Hicks, behind him.
The program was made up of many Wainwright’s most well-known
songs, including “The Art Teacher,” “Vibrate,” “Who Are You, New York?” “Poses,”
“Grey Gardens,” “Going to a Town,” “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk,” and “Oh
What a World.” Wainwright actually restarted “The Art Teacher” after a verse or
two, saying that something felt off, and since they were recording, he wanted
to get it right.
One of the highlights of the night was Wainwright’s version
of “O Holy Night,” sung in the original French. Rufus was a little unsure, but
of course he hit the high notes with style. I also really enjoyed the song “Montauk,”
which came after a song from Rufus’ opera Prima
Donna. Rufus called those two songs “the Philip Glass section of the
evening.”
Rufus received a rapturous standing ovation after “Going to
a Town.” Before he started playing the song, he talked briefly about politics,
saying how disappointed he was in the Republican-led tax bill that had passed
the night before. During this speech, principal trumpeter player Manny Laureano
got up from his seat and walked off the stage as a protest. I noticed this, and
I thought to myself for a second, “Did he leave because of what Rufus just
said?” And then I didn’t think any more about it until there was a piece in the
Star Tribune about the incident,
making it clear that Laureano’s action was a reaction to what Rufus was saying.
Another highlight of the night was the encore, comprised of “Oh
What a World,” which sounded beautiful accompanied by the orchestra, who could
do justice to the quotes from Maurice Ravel’s Bolero. Rufus also sang “Over the Rainbow” and the Leonard Cohen
song “Hallelujah” to end the night, which hit me right in the feels.
If you have the opportunity to see Rufus Wainwright in
concert, do it. He’s an excellent live performer who will keep you entertained
and amazed at his songs and voice.
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