Rufus Wainwright's 'Dream Requiem' Recording to Be Released in 2025

Rufus Wainwright is a musical polymath who occupies a unique and beloved place in our musical lives - singer, songwriter and composer of two operas and a musical. His latest work, Dream Requiem, is an epic work for orchestra, chorus, soprano and narrator. It received its world premiere in June this year in Paris with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the chorus and children’s choir of Radio France conducted by Mikko Franck with Meryl Streep as the narrator and soprano Anna Prohaska. On January 17th 2025, Warner Classics will release the live recording from the premiere. 

A co-commission from major cultural institutions in the US, UK and Europe, Dream Requiem was written during the pandemic and in Wainwright’s own words it’s a requiem "for the people we have lost in this crisis, for the past from which we are cut off and for the future to which we do not yet know how to connect, a Requiem for human contact, solidarity and the human voice that have all become dangerous and contagious." 

Dream Requiem is also a reflection on environmental collapse with its text combining words from the Latin Mass for the Dead – as used by Verdi, Britten, Mozart and many others – with Lord Byron's apocalyptic poem Darkness, an imagined dream about total planetary ecological collapse written after the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1915 that darkened the skies worldwide and led to the “year without a summer.”

Both texts are interwoven in the composition but treated in a distinctly different manner musically. Byron’s text is mostly narrated by an actor and is underscored by dark orchestral arrangements demonstrating the brutality and sheer force of the apocalyptic images that the poem conjures. The Latin Requiem text is sung by a large mixed choir, children’s choir and soprano. Massive choral moments are interrupted by quieter soprano solo passages to underline the fragility of life and nature. Wainwright’s Dream Requiem ultimately overcomes this desolation and tragedy, giving rise to hope and beauty through the music.

Dream Requiem is dedicated to Giuseppe Verdi and Puccini. When his mother played him a recording of Verdi’s Requiem when he was 13, Wainwright underwent one of the most transformative experiences of his life, showing him a clear artistic path for his future.

The co-dedicatee, Puccini, isn’t the great operatic composer but Wainwright’s beloved little dog who was killed during the pandemic in a violent encounter with a larger dog when he was only 18 weeks old.

“No matter what one’s [spiritual] leanings are, as an artist when dealing with a strong and ancient sacred text revolving around death, you kinda have to go there. This, I humbly believe, happened while composing Dream Requiem. Be it turning 50 and my final earthly landscape beginning to form on the horizon; my latent catholic upbringing which, though not strict, was still incredibly impactful; or just the fact that this ain’t my first time at the rodeo; many strong forces converged in the composition of this piece and not once was I lacking in a sense of direction.” Rufus Wainwright

Over the next two years, Dream Requiem will be performed at major international venues including in 2025 Barcelona’s Palau de la Musica, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles with Jane Fonda, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.

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 eleven 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, a musical and numerous songs for movies and TV.

Photo Credit: Miranda Turin