Rufus Wainwright To Kick Off Louisville Orchestra’s Pops Season This Fall

Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright will open the Louisville Orchestra’s 2023-2024 Pops Season with a performance at the Louisville Palace on Saturday, Sept. 30.

The concert promises to be a “sonic Shangri-La” featuring 60 classical musicians, drummer Matt Johnson and Wainwright singing selections from his much celebrated Want albums.

Want One, released in 2003, and Want Two, which followed in 2004, were both critically-acclaimed records, and, at this concert, the original songs from both will be turned into symphonic arrangements by Sally Herbert and Max Moston.

“Want One and Two are maybe the most epic of my albums,” Wainwright said in a press release. “They are the two sides of a coin, or better, of my personality, the male and the female, the knight in shining armor and the innocent maiden, ecstasy and restraint, glory and doom, decay and creation, the mature and the child. I am excited to bring these songs to a new level with all new symphonic settings. There is nothing more exciting than singing in front of a huge orchestra.”

Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday, June 16 at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster. For more information, visit https://rufuswainwright.com/tour.