Dutch actress Carice van Houten will be the narrator at the Dutch premiere of Dream Requiem by Rufus Wainwright with the Netherlands Philharmonic on Friday, June 20 at The Concertgebouw Amsterdam. The orchestra is conducted by conductor André de Ridder and Rufus Wainwright will be guest of honor that evening and will be interviewed on stage prior to the concert.
Singer-songwriter and composer Rufus Wainwright is one of the greats of his generation. Ever since Wainwright heard Verdi's Requiem as a child, he toyed with the idea of writing a death mass himself. When everything came to a halt during the covid pandemic, this idea became a reality.
Inspired by British composer Benjamin Britten, Wainwright's Dream Requiem combines the classical Latin fog text with Lord Byron's poem Darkness , about a post-apocalyptic world after a devastating volcanic eruption. Dream Requiem - in which the fog text is sung by choir and soprano - reflects on what we have lost due to global ecological and political crises. At the same time, the music translates these tragedies into hope, beauty and change.
