Rufus Wainwright to perform at London’s Royal Opera House for Judy Garland
Canadian singer and songwriter Rufus Wainwright will be performing his tribute show to Judy Garland at London’s Royal Opera House, in July next year.
His residency will last five days and will be including performances of Rufus Does Judy!, which Wainwright first performed four years ago, at the Carnegie Hall in New York. His tribute show is a recreation of Judy Garland’s amazing concert at the Carnegie Hall, in 1961. Wainwright’s show will also be including a version of his debut opera, Prima Donna, premiered in Manchester early this year. Wainwright’s sister Martha and father will also be on the show. According to Wainwright, aside from the concerts he will be performing in July, in London, there is no other chance for fans to see him in Europe next year.
The creative director of the Royal Opera House, Deborah Bull, expressed her excitement for the series of concerts that Rufus will be performing. “These performances by Rufus and his family will continue in this tradition, whilst extending the diversity of the artists and the musical genres we offer”, she said.
Rufus Wainwright ‘s love for the Opera was instilled to him by his mother, the late Canadian folk singer Kate McGarrigle, ever since he was a child. According to him, the opera was all that he listened to, way before he actually went to music school and looked upon it as work. Kate McGarrigle, who passed away in January 2010, used to write her own songs and performed in a duet with sister Anna McGariggle.
The Royal Opera House in London will be housing Rufus Wainwright's Garland tribute, in July 2011
Judy Garland’s original show was considered to be among the greatest in show-business history and it included renowned sogs like Chicago and Over The Rainbow.
The Royal Opera House, situated in the Covent Garden district in London, is famous all over the world for offering a space where a wide range of performers can tell stories and express their emotions through their voices. It shelters the royal opera, the royal ballet and the orchestra of the Royal Opera House. The first ballet performed here was in 1734. There are over 2000 seats inside the Royal Opera House. A few elements of the building – such as the facade, the foyer and auditorium – date since 1858, but it was the extensive reconstuction in 1990 that made it look like it does, nowadays.11
