bump, because I still love Rufus and I hope you do also. plus I just found this:
Singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright's first opera, Prima Donna, is set to premiere in the UK this July
After being turned away from the Metropolitan Opera in New York (the singer refused to change the language of the libretto from French to English), Wainwright has secured a spot at the Manchester's Palace Theatre as part of the Manchester International Festival.
"When I started writing the opera it was in French and it takes place in Paris," said the classical songbird of the venue swap. "It made sense - I was brought up in Montreal and I can speak French. The music started to reflect the language. But the Met wanted to commission an American work."
The opera follows the story of "a faded operatic soprano about to return to the stage after a six-year lay-off," and Wainwright is hoping Prima Donna will transform the current state of the opera genre!
"Opera seems to have been hijacked by intellectual elements… For a long time I wanted to make it a little less intellectual and have more emotional engagement. You have to remember it was a populous form, like the bandstand of its time," Wainwright disclosed.