Rufus Wainwright to Write Opera

by Jarrett Martineau | April 28, 2008 at 01:35 pm | 145 views | 2 comments

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, who is known for his own operatic, almost melodramatic, pop style, is getting set to pen his first opera, aptly entitled "Prima Donna".

Perhaps it takes one to know one?

Wainwright is writing a full-blown opera, his first, replete with libretto, sheet music and a cast of belters. While certain operatic subject matter isn't far-off from Wainwright's own songs - lust, loss, betrayal, death - he's not in the habit of writing tunes about giants, gods or Valkyries. "I've wanted to write an opera since I was about 14 years old," Wainwright told Variety, "but I couldn't find a story that I could wrap my head around."

When the commission came through from New York's Metropolitan Opera, Wainwright became inspired by the most obvious of tales: a day in the life of an opera singer. Prima Donna will explore "the construct of the diva, from Maria Callas to Norma Desmond, and the Jean-Jacques Beineix movie Diva, from the 80s. And God darn it, there's a bit of me in that too".

Wainwright will be composing the opera as well as writing its libretto - in French. And his inexperience with the genre doesn't intimidate him one bit. "Once the lights go down, it all kind of boils down to the same thing," he said. "It just has to be good."