Celebrated for his versatility in pop and folk music, Rufus Wainwright is also an accomplished composer of soundtracks, operas and musicals. His latest grand project, »Dream Requiem«, was written during the coronavirus pandemic. Following its world premiere in Paris it now comes to the Elbphilharmonie with a large orchestra, choir, soprano and grand dame of French film Isabelle Huppert as the narrator.
In Wainwright’s own words, it is a requiem »for the people we have lost in this crisis. It is a requiem for human contact, solidarity and the human voice – all that has become dangerous and contagious.« His musical role model was Guiseppe Verdi’s Requiem was , which had a huge impact on him when he heard it for the first time at age 13. »I think requiems have that pull because it is going right for the jugular. The Latin text itself is amazing too, because it is all about redemption and forgiveness, and about salvation and damnation, and also paradise, so it is very current.« Wainwright retains the text of the requiem and interweaves it with Lord Byron’s poem »Darkness«, read by Isabelle Huppert.
He equates the apocalyptic themes of the poem to the looming environmental crisis. »I am not saying it is going to happen tomorrow, but we’re definitely on some sort of precipice now where we have to address these possible outcomes. The poem really lays a kind of vision that if we are not mindful, we are heading straight for it.«
PERFORMERS
Symphoniker Hamburg orchestra
Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach-Chor Hamburg choir
Knabenchor Hannover choir
Mandy Fredrich soprano
Isabelle Huppert narrator
Lucy Leguay conductor
PROGRAM
Rufus Wainwright
Dream Requiem
