Rufus Wainwright Will Pay Tribute to Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall Once More

For two storied nights in 2006, singer, songwriter and composer Rufus Wainwright performed a love letter to Judy Garland's Judy At Carnegie Hall concert with a tribute of his own, Rufus Does Judy At Carnegie Hall. Backed by a 36-piece orchestra conducted by Stephen Oremus, he performed Judy's epic 1961 Carnegie Hall performance in its entirety. A dazzling spectacle performed in front of sold-out crowds, it was critically lauded and remains a pinnacle of success amidst a career full of them.

Often considered "the greatest night in show business history," Judy's historic concert brought her audience to its feet at least half a dozen times throughout the performance and was widely regarded as her comeback. She created a live recording of the concert which garnered five GRAMMY awards, chief among them Album of the Year and Best Solo Vocal Performance and topping Billboard's music chart for 13 weeks in a row. To fill these impressive shoes, Wainwright released this live album in December 2007, consisting of the live recording from his Judy show, earning him a 2009 GRAMMY nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album and charting in three countries. The show was mounted a total of six times due to popular demand, including performances at the London Palladium, Paris L'Olympia and the Hollywood Bowl.

On June 16th and 17th of this year, Rufus will return to perform the shows at Carnegie Hall in celebration of the ten year milestone with famed musical director Stephen Oremus once again in tow. He'll have various guests joining him including his brilliantly talented sister, singer/songwriter Martha Wainwright, bringing the house down with her rendition of the classic "Stormy Weather."

"A lot has happened in 10 years on all fronts and musically this show will reflect that," says Rufus. "This brilliant material was constructed to widen and deepen with age and I'm looking forward to the experience of singing these songs again, myself being more experienced. Can't wait to slip back into those ruby slippers, though in this day and age of comfort and commercialism I suppose they should be ruby sneakers!"

Sharing with Garland a deep loyal and adoring fan base, it's only appropriate that Wainwright once again takes the helm of this legendary show. Although born of two different generations, Garland and Wainwright both share unadulterated support from their fan-base.

American Express Card Members can purchase tickets beginning Wednesday, March 9th 2016 at 11am EST and a Live Nation pre-sale (code: RUFUS) begins on Friday, March 11th 2016 at 11am EST:

June 16: http://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2016/6/16/0800/PM/Rufus-Wainwright/

June 17: http://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2016/6/17/0800/PM/Rufus-Wainwright/

General tickets will go on sale Monday, March 14th 2016 at 11am EST.

A select number of charity tickets will be available for purchase through The Ali Forney Center and SAGE, both committed to serving the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer communities.

Rufus Does Judy will also be performed in a 2,000 seat music theatre built inside Toronto's iconic, decommissioned power plant, the Hearn Generating Station as part of Luminato Festival on June 23 and 24, giving Toronto audiences a chance to see the iconic production like never before. Wainwright's last appearance at Luminato, the 2014 concert If I Loved You: Gentlemen Prefer Broadway, was a sold-out, smash success at the Sony Centre. Tickets for Rufus Does Judy are on sale on March 7 at www.luminatofestival.com.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.rufuswainwright.com.

Rufus Wainwright, one of the great male vocalists and songwriters of his generation, has released seven studio albums, three DVDs, and three live albums. He has collaborated with artists ranging from Elton John, David Byrne, Mark Ronson, Joni Mitchell to Burt Bacharach. At the age of 14 he was named Canada's best young musician and later received the Juno Award for Best Alternative Album. His album Rufus does Judy recorded at Carnegie Hall in 2006 was nominated for a Grammy.

His acclaimed first opera, Prima Donna, premiered at the Manchester International Festival in July 2009 and has since been presented in London, Toronto and BAM in New York. In 2010 Wainwright was commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony to compose and interpret "Five Shakespeare Sonnets," a five-movement song cycle that sets Shakespeare's "Sonnets" to orchestra and voice. They have since been performed worldwide by orchestras including the Chicago and Montreal Symphonies.

In 2010 he was the first artist to complete a 5 concert residency at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London. In Sept 2014 he had his debut with the London Proms at Royal Albert Hall and performed at the Last Night of the Proms in the Park.

Other recent achievements include the 2012 world premiere of Sing Me The Songs That Say I Love You: A Concert for Kate McGarrigle, the feature length music documentary that captured the May 2011 tribute concert honoring Rufus' late mother, the legendary Kate McGarrigle. In 2013 he sang for Billy Joel at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington and September 2015 saw the Deutsche Grammophon release of a double CD recording of Prima Donna with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Rufus's next record, Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets, will be released April 22nd on Deutsche Grammophon and the Canadian Opera Company has commissioned Wainwright's second opera, about Roman Emperor Hadrian, to premiere in Toronto in the Fall of 2018.

For further Rufus Wainwright inquiries

Publicity:

Bianca Bianconi, Slate PR: 212.235.6815 / bianca@slate-pr.com

Label:

Olga Makrias, Universal Music Classics: 212.333.1485 / olga.makrias@umusic.com

Management:

Paula Quijano, Little Empire Music: 323.860.1800 / pq@littleempiremusic.com

Photo Credit: Matthew Welch

High-res photo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d80zaalm1iuj8q0/RW_15-1014_S8_9768-FLAT-V1.tif?dl=0

Carnegie Hall June 16 17 (002)" height="730" src="cid:image003.jpg@01D17867.45AD3980" width="465" />

DEVIN SAUSCHUCK | SLATE PR

307 7th Avenue | Suite 2401 | New York, NY 10001

T: 646.741.5069 | E: devin@slate-pr.com