Praised by the New York Times for his “authentic originality”, Rufus Wainwright has established himself as one of the great singers, songwriters and composers of his generation. Wainwright’s fascination with Kurt Weill’s music goes back for decades, but while Weill‘s musical influence can be heard in his own songs, Wainwright had never dedicated an entire evening to singing the German musician’s songs before. With the Pacific Jazz Orchestra under the baton of Chris Walden he is expanding the orchestral palette for his approach to Kurt Weill.

With its specific instrumentation and comprised of LA’s finest freelance and studio musicians, the Pacific Jazz Orchestra is able to play a variety of musical styles beyond jazz. The concert is set in the — offering a stage that provides the perfect visual setting for the period in which Weill’s songs were written.

The United Theatre on Broadway in Los Angeles is a lavishly restored 1920s movie palace. It’s where, in 1927, a group of visionary iconoclasts from Hollywood’s Golden Age erected the home of United Artists, the film studio whose acumen and rebellious ingenuity helped to reshape the American cinematic landscape. The theater was the vision of silent movie starlet Mary Pickford, who — together with Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and DW Griffith — dreamt of forming an independent production house outside of the established Hollywood studio system.

Director: Veronika Emily Pohl

Artists: Rufus Wainwright, Chris Walden, Pacific Jazz Orchestra
ACE Theater, Los Angeles

WAINWRIGHT DOES WEILL