coming soon: rufus!

by Charles Noble on September 4, 2010 · 3 comments

Rufus Wainwright

Yes, in partnership with PICA’s Festival of Time-Based Art (T:BA:10), the Oregon Symphony is presenting Rufus Wainwright on Thursday, September 9th. I know next to nothing about Wainwright (neither he nor his father), but everyone I know has been wildly excited about this collaboration, so it should be a singular event. I did catch him on the E! network show Chelsea Lately at few days ago – here’s the segment:

Tagged as: 2010, oregon symphony, pica, rufus wainwright

bob priest

wow, let’s put it this way, i hope his music is more appealing than his personality.

http://www.nobleviola.com Charles Noble

It is – the excerpts of his opera are quite beautiful, and gorgeously sung by the soprano and mezzo. Well worth hearing…

bob priest

That’s good to know. I”ll check it out, After all, I love Wagner while finding his personality hugely repellant.

So far, i’ve always been disappointed by “pop” artists that attempt “classical crossovers” – McCartney, Costello, Prince, etc.

The ONLY musician that could travel back ‘n’ forth with REAL chops and an individual voice was Frank Zappa.

PS
Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead might wind-up being another. His music for the film. “There Will Be Blood” is fairly strong even though it is highly derivative of early-Penderecki.