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Rufus Wainwright Sydney Festival 2025

8 January 2025

In the Concert Hall

Contemporary Music

The acclaimed Canadian singer-songwriter and his gloriously expressive voice play the biggest hits from his three-decade career at the Sydney Opera House.

Fans melted and mopped up by each quiver of his voice, that irrepressibly sardonic vibrato.

The Guardian

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The iconic singer plays hits from his technicolour songbook

For the first time in five years, beloved singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright returns to the stage in Sydney. This time, he brings a solo-selection of the biggest pop and folk compositions from his sweeping 11-album, three-decade career. 

Unaccompanied and on piano, Wainwright and his “peerless, simultaneously sad and sensual soaring baritone” (The Herald Scotland) take you on a personal tour of his technicolour songbook. 

Across his wide-ranging career, the New York-born, Montreal-raised showman has collaborated with the likes of Elton John, David Byrne, Joni Mitchell and Miley Cyrus, belted “Over the Rainbow” at Carnegie Hall, written two operas and penned a musical. In 2023, he celebrated his family folk roots with his Grammy-nominated album Folkocracy, duetting with Chaka Khan, Brandi Carlile, John Legend and many more.  

Presented by Sydney Festival

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