Jack Wolfe Joins MANHATTAN FOR THE HOLIDAYS Benefit Concert

Olivier Award-nominated actor and singer Jack Wolfe has joined the lineup for this year's installment of Rufus & Martha Wainwright's annual holiday extravaganza, Manhattan for the Holidays. The benefit concert will take place at Town Hall in Manhattan on December 6, and will feature a variety of special guests including Cyndi Lauper, Alice Phoebe Lou, and Jenni Muldaur, along with the Wainwright family including Loudon Wainwright III and Lucy Wainwright Roche. More guests to be announced soon.

Wolfe recently made his Broadway debut as Orpheus in Anaïs Mitchell's Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown. He previously starred as Gabe in the acclaimed UK premiere of Next to Normal at The Donmar Warehouse and in the West End, receiving Critics' Circle, Stage Debut and WhatsOnStage Awards for his performance. His other theatre credits include work with The National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company and Chichester Festival Theatre. On screen, Jack is known for playing Wylan in Netflix's Shadow and Bone, and has recently appeared in films Kiloran Bay and Ancestors, the latter premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and featuring original music written by Jack.

'I really can't quite believe I get to join Martha and Rufus alongside such an incredible line up for this special evening in support of a cause that feels especially close to home this year. I can't wait,' said Wolfe.

Net proceeds from the event will go directly to Folk Cancer: The Kate McGarrigle Project, a heartfelt collaboration between Rufus & Martha Wainwright and Cancer Can Rock established in memory of their mother. The funds are being administered through the Kate McGarrigle Fund's fiscal sponsor, the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF).

As part of the evening, the Murmrr Arts Foundation (MAF) will present its third artist commission. MAF is dedicated to commissioning, collecting, exhibiting, and preserving significant works across the visual, literary, and performing arts. Murmrr Commission No. 003 features acclaimed photographer and filmmaker Laurie Simmons with a specially selected artwork exploring ideas of home, family, memory, and the recurring image of the house and castle—subjects that have appeared throughout her work for decades. Proceeds from the sale of the artwork will go directly to Folk Cancer: The Kate McGarrigle Project.

For Simmons, the imagery has a deeply personal connection to New York and her own family history. She reflected, 'My father was a first-generation American who grew up in Brooklyn. 'Home' was an idealized, inherited New World dream to him. His house, the house I grew up in, though somewhat modest, embodied all the success in his life. I really internalized this idea that my father's house was his castle. The castle, the house, interiors, are all images that repeat in my work. I keep recirculating and repurposing these images to emphasize their significance for me.'

The Simmons project continues the work of MAF to bring contemporary artists into dialogue with live music, performance, and unexpected cultural settings. Brian Kelly, Founder and Executive Chair of MAF commented, 'The idea behind the Murmrr Arts Foundation is pretty simple: put great artists in places where people aren't necessarily expecting to find them. Laurie made a castle. Rufus and Martha made a Christmas show. Somehow they belong together.'

About Rufus Wainwright

Praised by the New York Times for his 'genuine originality,' Rufus Wainwright has established himself as one of the great male vocalists, songwriters, and composers of his generation. The New York-born, Montreal-raised singer-songwriter has released ten studio albums to date, three DVDs, and three live albums including the GRAMMY nominated Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall. He has collaborated with artists such as Elton John, Burt Bacharach, Miley Cyrus, David Byrne, Boy George, Joni Mitchell, Pet Shop Boys, Heart, Carly Rae Jepsen, Robbie Williams, Jessye Norman, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Sting, and producer Mark Ronson, among many others. He has written two operas and numerous songs for movies and TV. His 2020 GRAMMY nominated studio album of original songs, Unfollow the Rules, finds Wainwright at the peak of his powers, entering artistic maturity with passion, honesty, and a new-found fearlessness. In 2023, he embarked on a journey to his family folk roots with his GRAMMY nominated album Folkocracy featuring reinvented folk duets with artists like Chaka Khan, Brandi Carlile, John Legend and Anohni and many more. His first musical of John Cassavetes' Opening Night for the West End with Ivo van Hove premiered at the Gielgud Theater in March 2024. During this time he also completed his Dream Requiem, which premiered with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in June of 2024 and featured Meryl Streep as the narrator. The recording of the performance was released via Warner Classics in January 2025, which was followed by the US premiere at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles featuring Jane Fonda as the narrator. Co-commissioners for the Dream Requiem are the Master Chorale in Los Angeles, the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, the Helsinki Symphony Orchestra, the RTE Orchestra in Ireland, and the Royal Ballet London.

About Martha Wainwright

Martha Wainwright is an internationally renowned singer songwriter, with over two decades of industry experience. Critically acclaimed for the rawness and emotional honesty of both her vocals and lyrics, her albums include: Martha Wainwright (2005); I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too (2008); Come Home to Mama (2012); the JUNO nominated Songs in the Dark (2015), a collaboration with her half sister Lucy Wainwright Roche; Goodnight City (2016); and her latest album Love Will Be Reborn (2021). She is also an actress and was featured in Martin Scorsese's Aviator and the HBO special, Olive Kitteridge. Born into music royalty, the daughter of folk legends Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III and sister to the highly acclaimed, genre defying singer Rufus Wainwright, Martha grew up in a world filled with incomparable musical legends Anna McGarrigle, Leonard Cohen, Suzzy Roche, Richard and Linda Thompson, Emmylou Harris and struggled to find her voice in a milieu in which every drama was refracted through song. Then, in 2005, she released her critically acclaimed debut album, Martha Wainwright, containing the blistering hit, 'Bloody Mother F*cking Asshole,' which the Sunday Times called one of the best songs of the year. That release, and the albums that followed showcased Martha's searing songwriting style and established her as a powerful voice to be reckoned with.

About Laurie Simmons

Since the mid-1970s, artist Laurie Simmons has staged scenes to create images with intensely psychological subtexts and nonlinear narratives. By the 1980s Simmons was at the forefront of a generation of artists, predominantly women, whose use of photography began a new dialogue in contemporary art. Her work is included in many permanent collections worldwide. The Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth and The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago presented a major retrospective of Simmons's work, titled Big Camera/Little Camera, in 2018-19. Simmons lives and works in New York and Connecticut.

About Folk Cancer: The Kate McGarrigle Project

Folk Cancer: The Kate McGarrigle Project is a heartfelt collaboration between singer-songwriters Rufus and Martha Wainwright and Cancer Can Rock. The Wainwrights witnessed firsthand how songwriting and performing helped their mother, folk legend Kate McGarrigle, navigate the final months of her life with cancer. After her passing, Rufus and Martha have carried her legacy forward — supporting musicians facing aggressive cancer to record their songs, feel pride in their work, and preserve their legacy. In 2024, they joined forces with Cancer Can Rock, which has spent over a decade facilitating these recordings. In 2025, the project supported musician Daniel Valoff in recording and releasing 'There's Still a Light in the Sky,' with Rufus present in the studio for the session. For more information, visit FolkCancer.org

About Cancer Can Rock

Cancer Can Rock is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides gifted musicians facing aggressive cancer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with top industry professionals, ensuring their musical legacy and contribution to the arts is preserved. For more information, visit CancerCanRock.org

About Murmrr Arts Foundation

The Murmrr Arts Foundation (MAF) is a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to creating new opportunities for artists and bringing contemporary art into unexpected spaces and cultural experiences. Through artist commissions, exhibitions, live performances, and collaborations across disciplines, MAF seeks to remove traditional boundaries between visual art, music, literature, comedy, and performance. MAF's artist commission program invites leading contemporary artists to create or present work in connection with singular live events, allowing audiences to encounter art outside the traditional gallery or museum setting. The Laurie Simmons project marks the Foundation's third artist commission, with proceeds from the sale of the artwork benefiting Folk Cancer: The Kate McGarrigle Project.