Rufus Wainwright

Heartfelt, introspective lyrics and moving melodies from the prolific singer-songwriter.

It’s time to Canuck n’ Roll as we celebrate Canada Day with a trip through the best of the BBC’s music archives, exploring some of that great nation’s finest music stars.

Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) provides a highly emotive musical backdrop for this stripped back film, which is both epic and intimate. Featuring Royal Ballet First Artist Leo Dixon, this poetic solo was captured on the main stage of the Royal Opera House during lockdown. The hauntingly empty auditorium and stage provide a stunning backdrop to Wainwright's music and Pita's movement.

Recorded in 2008, direct from the Knitting Factory stage in downtown Manhattan. This The McGarrigle Christmas Hour features Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Rufus & Martha Wainwright, Emmylou Harris, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson among others

Explore the history of the LGBTQ movement through the lens of TV in this five-part docuseries. Combining archival footage with new interviews, it looks at homophobia, invisibility, the evolution of LGBTQ characters, and coming out in the TV industry.

8.2/10
10%

Rufus Wainwright live at Austin City Limits, 2020 setlist: Trouble In Paradise, Damsel In Distress, Unfollow The Rules, You Ain’t Big, Peaceful Afternoon, Only the People That Love, My Little You, Early Morning Madness, Devils And Angels (Hatred), Alone Time, Going To A Town

Rufus Wainwright's original opera finds Emperor Hadrian devastated after his lover Antinous drowns in the Nile River. While matters of state encroach on his grief, and advisors clamour for war against a radical new threat to the Empire, Hadrian slips out of time to re-encounter the vision and reality of Antinous—and learn the truth about what happened on the Nile.

Filmed over two nights at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration brings together a big-name lineup of performers to pay tribute to the legendary singer-songwriter. Seal, James Taylor, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Kris Kristofferson, Graham Nash and more perform songs from Mitchell’s extensive catalog of 19 studio albums. The celebration culminates with all of the stars performing Big Yellow Taxi and presenting a birthday cake to Joni on stage.

7.5/10

From the stage of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, David Tennant, Catherine Tate and guests mark the life of William Shakespeare on the 400th anniversary of the playwright's death.

7.9/10

19-time Grammy Award-winner Tony Bennett's 90th birthday is celebrated by a host of celebrities in this two-hour music special held at Radio City Music Hall, New York City, with musical performances by Bennett, Andrea Bocelli, Michael Bublé, Lady Gaga, Billy Joel, Elton John, Diana Krall, k.d. lang, Leslie Odom Jr., Rufus Wainwright and Stevie Wonder.

2.7/10

Recorded on May 17, 2012 at the magnificent Church of the Ascension, on Manhattan's lower Fifth Avenue for PBS's (((Artists Den)), this amazing show is now available in all its glory to watch again and again on Blu-Ray. The 16 song, 69-minute 'Live from the Artists Den' concert includes five songs that were not included in the broadcast, plus an additional 50 minutes of behind-the-scenes bonus material. This bonus materials includes an exclusive, extended interview with Wainwright, an additional interview with the Church of Ascension's rector, Father Andrew, 'Inside the Den', a behind-the-scenes look at the concert shoot and location, and a 'Night in Pictures' slideshow.

Robbie Williams takes over the London Palladium for an evening of swing classics and new songs. Special guests joining Robbie and his big band on stage are Lily Allen, Rufus Wainwright and Muppets Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog, and grumpy old men Statler and Waldorf.

A Documentary feature film directed by Lian Lunson celebrating the late Kate McGarrigle.

7.7/10
4.3%

A cinematic backdrop, created by Douglas Gordon, for Rufus Wainwright, in which the singer's eyes are filmed in slow motion and overlapped. The film is shown here accompanied by Wainwright's Sonnet 10 - but the film was also shown as a video backdrop during the singer's live concerts.

US stage director Robert Wilson has teamed up with pop star Rufus Wainwright to bring Shakespeare's sonnets to the stage in Berlin. Debuting on Easter Sunday, this highly stylized cross-dressing version of the archetypal love poems went down a storm with the audience.

8.8/10

Director Stephen Anderson and the cast and crew of Disney's Meet the Robinsons discuss the making of the 2007 animated film.

Jean-Marc is a man without qualities living in times that are out of joint. His wife and children ignore him; he's a mid-level government functionary in Montreal doing his job without care. He has an active imagination of sexual conquest, but his only real feelings come when he visits his aged mother, whose health is failing. When his wife leaves abruptly to work in Toronto, Jean-Marc sets out to reorder things with his daughters, his social life, and at work. In a world that at best is a farce, does he stand a chance?

3.9/10

An 18-minute-long featurette about the making of Walt Disney Pictures 2007 animated feature film 'Meet the Robinsons'.

A live recording from Rufus Wainwright's sold-out February 25, 2007 tribute concert at the London Palladium to the legendary American actress and singer Judy Garland. The tribute concert features the same songs from Garland's well-known 1961 album, Judy at Carnegie Hall.

7.8/10

Poet, singer / songwriter and ladies man Leonard Cohen is interviewed in his home about his life and times. The interview is interspersed with archive photos and exuberant praise and live perfomances from an eclectic mix of musicians, including: Jarvis Cocker, Rufus & Martha Wainwright, Teddy Thompson, Anohni, The Handsome Family and U2's Bono and The Edge.

6.8/10
6.9%

The outrageous drag-cabaret duo Kiki and Herb share their past, present and future as they tour the UK. A mixture of live performance and celebrity interviews (featuring Rufus Wainwright and the Scissor Sisters) that reflect on Kiki and Herb's musical influences, fans, politics and family.

6.8/10

'Heights' follows five characters over 24 hours on a fall day in New York City. Isabel, a photographer, is having second thoughts about her upcoming marriage to Jonathan, a lawyer. On the same day, Isabel's mother Diana learns that her husband has a new lover and begins to re-think her life choices and her open marriage. Diana and Isabel's paths cross with Alec, a young actor, and with Peter, a journalist. As the interrelated stories proceed, the connections between the lives of the five characters begin to reveal themselves and their stories unravel. Isabel, Jonathan, Diana, Alec, and Peter must choose what kind of lives they will lead before the sun comes up on the next day.

6.9/10
6.4%

"L'Absence" – 4:00 "14th Street" – 4:33 "Harvester of Hearts" – 2:41 "Natasha" – 3:24 "The Art Teacher" – 3:34 "Hallelujah" – 4:22 "Matinee Idol" – 2:58 "Vibrate" – 3:17 "Gay Messiah" – 4:17 "Want" – 5:27 "Greek Song" – 3:52 "Foolish Love" – 5:35 "I Don't Know What It Is" – 5:40 "Dinner at Eight" – 5:00 "Beautiful Child" – 6:28 "Oh What a World" – 4:13 "Liberty Cabbage" – 4:56 "California" – 3:28 "As in Happy" – 3:40

8.6/10

A biopic depicting the life of filmmaker and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes from 1927 to 1947, during which time he became a successful film producer and an aviation magnate, while simultaneously growing more unstable due to severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.

7.5/10
8.6%

Some of today's most original recording artists perform the work of famed composer Harold Arlen.

7.8/10