VIDEO: Rufus Wainwright At The Rose Bar

Site & Sound: Rufus Wainwright from VanLou Media on Vimeo.

In a new episode of Site & Sound, Rufus Wainwright performs "When Most I Wink," one of three songs based on Shakespeare sonnets that appear on "All Days are Nights: Songs for Lulu" (Decca Records). The song, like much of the album, is both mournful and hopeful. Based on Sonnet 43, it includes the memorable couplet "All days are nights to see till I see thee/ And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me."

To read more about the episode, click here.

Rufus Wainwright is one of the most interesting singer/songwriters of his generation. Rolling Stone called his 1998 debut one of the Best Albums of the Year, and named him Best New Artist of the Year. He has recorded five albums of original music, several EPs, and contributed to numerous soundtracks (Brokeback Mountain, Moulin Rouge, Shrek) and compilations (Live at the World Café). His latest, Release the Stars, debuted at #23 and went Gold. He has toured with Tori Amos, Sting, Ben Folds, and Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour. The Metropolitan Opera has commissioned him to write an opera. In 2006 he sold out Carnegie Hall twice, performing the entire Judy Garland concert album recorded there in 1961. His music, described as "popera" and "baroque pop," often features just his beautiful tenor with piano or guitar (he plays both), but increasing employs full rock band instrumentation as well as symphony orchestra to deal with themes like love and unrequited love ("This Love Affair"), family ("Dinner at Eight"), religion ("Agnus Dei," "Gay Messiah"), distant places ("Sanssouci") substance abuse ("Go Or Go Ahead") school ("Millbrook") and celebrity and its consequences ("Matinee Idol").