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Renaissance garden in Pieskowa Skała, Poland

A kaiyu-shiki or strolling Japanese garden

Nicosia municipal gardens

The Sunken Garden of Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia

The back garden of the Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur, India

Flower-bed with the date in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has traditionally been a more general one. Zoos, which display wild animals in simulated natural habitats, were formerly called zoological gardens.^[1][2] Western gardens are almost universally based on plants, with garden often signifying a shortened form of botanical garden.

The etymology of the word refers to enclosure: it is from Middle English gardin, from Anglo-French gardin, jardin, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German gard, gart, an enclosure or compound, as in Stuttgart. See Grad (Slavic settlement) for more complete etymology.^[3] The words yard, court, and Latin hortus (meaning "garden," hence horticulture and orchard), are cognates—all referring to an enclosed space.^[4]

The term "garden" in British English refers to a small enclosed area of land, usually adjoining a building.^[5] This would be referred to as a yard in American English.

Some traditional types of eastern gardens, such as Zen gardens, use plants such as parsley. Xeriscape gardens use local native plants that do not require irrigation or extensive use of other resources while still providing the benefits of a garden environment. Gardens may exhibit structural enhancements, sometimes called follies, including water features such as fountains, ponds (with or without fish), waterfalls or creeks, dry creek beds, statuary, arbors, trellises and more.

Some gardens are for ornamental purposes only, while some gardens also produce food crops, sometimes in separate areas, or sometimes intermixed with the ornamental plants. Food-producing gardens are distinguished from farms by their smaller scale, more labor-intensive methods, and their purpose (enjoyment of a hobby rather than produce for sale). Flower gardens combine plants of different heights, colors, textures, and fragrances to create interest and delight the senses.

Gardening is the activity of growing and maintaining the garden. This work is done by an amateur or professional gardener. A gardener might also work in a non-garden setting, such as a park, a roadside embankment, or other public space. Landscape architecture is a related professional activity with landscape architects tending to specialise in design for public and corporate clients.

Garden design[link]

Garden design is the creation of plans for the layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Gardens may be designed by garden owners themselves, or by professionals. Most professional garden designers are trained in principles of design and in horticulture, and have an expert knowledge and experience of using plants. Some professional garden designers are also landscape architects, a more formal level of training that usually requires an advanced degree and often a state license.

Elements of garden design include the layout of hard landscape, such as paths, rockeries, walls, water features, sitting areas and decking, as well as the plants themselves, with consideration for their horticultural requirements, their season-to-season appearance, lifespan, growth habit, size, speed of growth, and combinations with other plants and landscape features. Consideration is also given to the maintenance needs of the garden, including the time or funds available for regular maintenance, which can affect the choices of plants regarding speed of growth, spreading or self-seeding of the plants, whether annual or perennial, and bloom-time, and many other characteristics. Garden design can be roughly divided into two groups, formal and naturalistic gardens.^[6]

The most important consideration in any garden design is, how the garden will be used, followed closely by the desired stylistic genres, and the way the garden space will connect to the home or other structures in the surrounding areas. All of these considerations are subject to the limitations of the budget. Budget limitations can be addressed by a simpler garden style with fewer plants and less costly hardscape materials, seeds rather than sod for lawns, and plants that grow quickly; alternatively, garden owners may choose to create their garden over time, area by area.

Elements of a garden[link]

Garden at the centre of intersection in Shanghai.

Naturalistic design of a Chinese garden incorporated into the landscape, including a pavilion

The elements of a garden consist of the following:

Natural conditions and materials:

• Soil
• Rocks
• Light
• Wind
• Water from Precipitation or other source
• Air
  • Pollution
  • Proximity to ocean (salinity)
• Plant materials

Constructed elements:

• Garden beds
• Paths
• Pool, water garden, or other water elements such as drainage system
• Terrace, patio, deck
• Lighting
• Sculpture,
• Buildings such as sheds, gazebos, pergolas and follies

Uses for the garden space[link]

A garden can have aesthetic, functional, and recreational uses:

• Cooperation with nature
  • Plant cultivation
• Observation of nature
  • Bird and insectwatching
  • Reflection on the changing seasons
• Relaxation
  • Family dinners on the terrace
  • Children playing in the garden
  • Reading and relaxing in the hammock
  • Maintaining the flowerbeds
  • Pottering in the shed
  • Basking in warm sunshine
  • Escaping oppressive sunlight and heat
• Growing useful produce
  • Flowers to cut and bring inside for indoor beauty
  • Fresh herbs and vegetables for cooking

Types of gardens[link]

A typical Italian garden at Villa Garzoni, near Pistoia

Checkered garden in Tours, France

Zen garden, Ryōan-ji

French formal garden in the Loire Valley

Bristol Zoo, England

Castelo Branco, Portugal

Hualien, Taiwan

El Escorial, Spain

Gardens may feature a particular plant or plant type(s);

• Back garden
• Bog Garden
• Cactus garden
• Fernery
• Flower garden
• Front garden
• Herb garden
• Mary garden
• Orangery
• Orchard
• Potager
• Rose garden
• Shade garden
• Vegetable garden
• Vineyard
• White garden
• Wildflower garden
• Winter garden

Gardens may feature a particular style or aesthetic:

• Alpine or rock garden
• Bonsai or miniature garden
• Children's Garden
• Chinese garden
• Dutch garden
• English landscape garden
• Gardens of the French Renaissance
• French formal garden
• French landscape garden
• Italian garden
• Japanese garden
• Knot garden
• Korean garden
• Mughal garden
• Native garden
• Persian garden
• Roman gardens
• Spanish garden
• Terrarium
• Trial garden
• Tropical garden
• Water garden
• Wild garden
• Xeriscaping
• Zen garden

Types of garden:

• Botanical garden
• Butterfly Garden
• Butterfly zoo
• Chinampa
• Cold Frame Garden
• Community garden
• Container garden
• Cottage garden
• Cutting garden
• Forest garden
• Garden conservatory
• Green wall
• Greenhouse
• Hanging garden
• Hydroponic garden
• Market garden
• Rain garden
• Raised bed gardening
• Residential garden
• Roof garden
• Sacred garden
• Sensory garden
• Square foot garden
• Vertical garden
• Walled garden
• Windowbox
• Zoological garden

Watering gardens[link]

See rainwater, sprinkler system, drip irrigation, tap water, greywater, hand pump and watering can.

History[link]

In art and literature[link]

• The Garden of Eden
• Romance of the Rose
• Nathaniel Hawthorne's short-story "Rappaccini's Daughter"
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera La finta giardiniera
• Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden
• Elizabeth von Arnim's novels Elizabeth and Her German Garden and Solitary Summer
• John Steinbeck's short-story The Chrysanthemums
• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Other similar spaces[link]

Other outdoor spaces that are similar to gardens include:

• A landscape is an outdoor space of a larger scale, natural or designed, usually unenclosed and considered from a distance.
• A park is a planned outdoor space, usually enclosed ('imparked') and of a larger size. Public parks are for public use.
• An arboretum is a planned outdoor space, usually large, for the display and study of trees.
• A farm or orchard is for the production of food stuff.
• A botanical garden is a type of garden where plants are grown both for scientific purposes and for the enjoyment and education of visitors.
• A zoological garden, or zoo for short, is a place where wild animals are cared for and exhibited to the public.

See also[link]

	Gardening portal
	Plants portal

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Garden

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Garden

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article garden.

Wikibooks' A Wikimanual of Gardening has more about this subject: gardening

• Garden Wiki
• Creative Green Spaces

v t e Horticulture and gardening Gardening and Gardens Arboretum Butterfly gardening Forest gardening French intensive gardening Garden Garden design History of gardening Kitchen garden Landscape garden Native gardening Parterre Rain garden Raised bed gardening Roof garden Square foot gardening Sustainable gardening Therapeutic garden Tropical garden Wildlife garden Xeriscaping Horticulture Agriculture Aquaponics Arboriculture Botany Companion planting Crop Floriculture Fruticulture Horticultural flora Indigenous horticulture Intercropping Landscape architecture Oenology Olericulture Plant Plant breeding Plant propagation Postharvest physiology Stock-free agriculture Sustainable agriculture Tropical horticulture Urban agriculture Urban horticulture Viticulture Organic Biodynamic agriculture List of organic gardening and farming topics Vegan organic gardening Plant protection Fungicide Herbicide Index of pesticide articles List of fungicides Pesticide Plant disease forecasting Weed control Agriculture and Agronomy portal Gardening portal Commons

Rufus Wainwright
Wainwright in 2010 at the Metropolitan Opera opening night of Das Rheingold
Background information
Birth name	Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright
Born	(1973-07-22) July 22, 1973 (age 38) Rhinebeck, New York, U.S.
Origin	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genres	Baroque pop, operatic pop
Instruments	Vocals, piano, guitar
Years active	1993–present
Labels	Geffen Records Dreamworks Records
Website	www.rufuswainwright.com

Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter and composer. He has recorded seven albums of original music and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written a classical opera and set Shakespeare sonnets to music for a theater piece by Robert Wilson.

Life and career[link]

Early years[link]

Wainwright was born in Rhinebeck, New York, to folk singers Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III.^[1][2] His parents divorced when he was three, and he lived with his mother in Montreal for most of his youth. Wainwright has dual US and Canadian citizenship.^[3] He attended high school at the Millbrook School in New York (which would later inspire his song "Millbrook"), and later briefly studied piano at McGill in Montreal. He began playing the piano at age six, and started touring at 13 with "The McGarrigle Sisters and Family", a folk group featuring Rufus, his sister Martha, his mother Kate, and aunt Anna. His song "I'm a-Runnin'", which he performed in the film Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller at the age of 14, earned him a nomination for a 1989 Genie Award for Best Original Song.^[4] He was nominated for a 1990 Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year.^[5]

Wainwright acknowledged that he was gay while a teenager.^[6] In 1999, he told Rolling Stone that his father recognized his homosexuality early on. "We'd drive around in the car, he'd play 'Heart of Glass' and I'd sort of mouth the words, pretend to be Blondie. Just a sign of many other things to come as well."^[7] Wainwright later said in another interview that his "mother and father could not even handle me being gay. We never talked about it really."^[8]

Wainwright became interested in opera during his adolescent years, and the genre strongly influences his music. (For instance, the song "Barcelona" features lyrics from the libretto of Giuseppe Verdi's opera, Macbeth.) During this time, he became interested in Édith Piaf, Al Jolson, and Judy Garland.

At 14, Wainwright was sexually assaulted in London's Hyde Park after picking up a man at a bar.^[8] In an interview years later, he described the event: "I said I wanted to go to the park and see where this big concert was going on. I thought it was going to be a romantic walk in the park, but he raped me and robbed me afterwards and tried to strangle me".^[9] Wainwright states that he survived only by pretending to be an epileptic and faking a seizure.^[10] He has been reported to have stated that he remained celibate for five, or seven years, after the incident, and eventually became promiscuous.^{[6][8][9][10]}

In 2009 the unofficial biography There Will Be Rainbows: A Biography of Rufus Wainwright and the story of Loudon Wainwright and Kate McGarrigle by Kirk Lake documented Wainwright's early struggles.^[11]

Rise to fame, debut album[link]

Through weekly shows at Cafe Sarajevo, Wainwright was on the Montreal club circuit and eventually cut a series of demo tapes produced by Pierre Marchand, who later produced Wainwright's album Poses. The resulting tapes impressed his father Loudon, who passed them on to his friend Van Dyke Parks. Parks sent the recordings to Lenny Waronker, the DreamWorks executive who eventually signed Wainwright to his label.^[12] Waronker stated the following of Wainwright: "When I was about to listen to his tape, I remember clearly I was thinking, 'Gee, if he has the mom's musicality and smarts, and the dad's smarts and voice, that'd be nice.' Then I put it on and I said, 'Oh, my God, this is stunning.'"^[12]

The singer moved to New York City in 1996, performing regularly at Club Fez. He relocated to Los Angeles that year and began his first studio album, 1998's Rufus Wainwright. Waronker paired Wainwright with producer Jon Brion, and the two spent most of 1996 and 1997 making the record. Wainwright recorded 56 songs in total, on 62 rolls of tape. The sessions cost $700,000.^[12]

Wainwright's self-titled debut received critical acclaim; Rolling Stone recognized it as one of the best albums of the year, and named the singer "Best New Artist" of the year. Wainwright was nominated for four awards by the Gay & Lesbian American Music Awards, including Album of the Year, Pop Recording of the Year and Video of the Year, and won for Best New Artist.^[13][14] Rufus Wainwright won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Music Album and a Juno Award for Best Alternative Album.^[5][15] However, commercial success of the album was limited; the debut failed to chart in any country, though he ranked No.24 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart.^[16]

Wainwright toured with Sean Lennon in 1998 and began his first headline tour later that year. In December 1998, he appeared in a Gap commercial directed by Phil Harder, performing Frank Loesser's "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?". In March 1999, Wainwright began a headlining tour at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey.

[edit] Poses and struggle with addiction

Wainwright lived in the Chelsea Hotel in New York City for six months, during which he wrote most of his second album. On June 5, 2001, Wainwright's second album, Poses, was released to critical acclaim but limited sales. The album ranked No.117 on the Billboard 200 and No.1 on the Top Heatseekers chart.^[16][17] Poses won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Music Album, a Juno Award for Best Alternative Album, and was nominated by the Juno Awards for Best Songwriter ("Poses" / "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" / "Grey Gardens").^[5][18] From 2001 to 2004, he toured with Tori Amos, Sting, Ben Folds, and Guster, as well as headlining the 2001 and 2002 tour in support of the album.

Wainwright became addicted to crystal meth in the early 2000s and temporarily lost his vision. His addiction reached its peak in 2002, during what he described as "the most surreal week of my life." During that week, he played a cameo role in the UK comedy television program, Absolutely Fabulous, spent several nights partying with George W. Bush's daughter Barbara,^[19] enjoyed a "debauched evening" with his mother and Marianne Faithfull, sang with Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons for Zaldy's spring 2003 collection, and experienced recurring hallucinations of his father throughout. He decided after that he "was either going to rehab or I was going to live with my father. I knew I needed an asshole to yell at me, and I felt he fit the bill."^[20]

[edit] Want albums

Wainwright in concert in Chicago

In 2003 Rufus released the full-length "Want One". Then Wainwright's album Want Two, from which four songs were released as the EP Waiting for a Want, was released by DreamWorks/Geffen on November 16, 2004. Afterward, a live iTunes Sessions EP entitled Alright, Already: Live in Montréal was released on March 15, 2005. A DVD entitled All I Want, featuring a biographical documentary, music videos, and live performances, was released internationally in 2005. That same year, Wainwright made two major contributions as a solo vocalist to a pair of records: the Mercury Prize-winning Antony and the Johnsons' I am a Bird Now and Burt Bacharach's At This Time.

Want One and Want Two were repackaged as Want for a November 2005 release to coincide with the beginning of a British tour. This version of Want One contains two extra songs: "Es Muß Sein" and "Velvet Curtain Rag". The Want package in the UK has two bonus tracks: "Chelsea Hotel No. 2" (a Leonard Cohen cover) and "In With the Ladies", which replace "Coeur de Parisienne – Reprise d'Arletty" and "Quand Vous Mourez de Nos Amours" from 2004's augmented edition.

[edit] Release the Stars and Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall

Wainwright's fifth studio album, Release the Stars, was released by Geffen on May 15, 2007. The album was produced by Wainwright and featured Richard Thompson, friend Teddy Thompson, sister Martha Wainwright, mother Kate McGarrigle, Neil Tennant, Joan Wasser, Julianna Raye, Larry Mullins (professionally known as Toby Dammit), and actress Siân Phillips.^[21] It reached No.2 on the UK Albums Chart, and debuted at No.23 on the Billboard 200. The first single, "Going to a Town", was released on April 3, 2007 in the iTunes Music Store. The second single released was "Rules and Regulations", and the third single was a 500-copy (12" vinyl) release of "Tiergarten", a one-track EP with the Supermayer remix of Tiergarten, which was released exclusively through iTunes and 7digital on October 29.

	Rufus Wainwright: "Banks of the Wabash" (1997) noicon 30 second sample of Rufus Wainwright singing a cover of Paul Dresser's "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" (1897) for the soundtrack to the 1997 film The Myth of Fingerprints.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Two video clips were released for the album: "Going to a Town", directed by Sophie Muller, and "Rules and Regulations", directed by Petro Papahadjopoulos and styled by J.W. Anderson. Release the Stars was certified gold in the UK. The accompanying world tour saw Wainwright visit North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, ending on February 14, 2008 with a concert at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

On June 10, 2006, NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday broadcast an interview of Wainwright by Scott Simon. The segment concerned Wainwright's sold-out pair of Carnegie Hall shows on June 14 and 15, 2006 in which he performed the entire Judy Garland concert album that was recorded there in 1961.^[22] He later repeated his performance at the London Palladium, the Paris Olympia, and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.^[23] Live CD and DVD recordings of the concerts were released on December 4, 2007. The DVD is entitled Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! Does Judy! Judy! Judy!: Live from the London Palladium. The CD album, Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall, is a recording of his show at the legendary New York venue.^[24] In 2008, Garland's daughter Lorna Luft expressed strong approval of Wainwright's recordings of her mother's songs.^[25] The album was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.^[26]

[edit] Blackoutsabbath and Prima Donna

Wainwright in 2008.

Wainwright created the concept of Blackoutsabbath in early 2008. In an attempt to become more environmentally conscious, participants are asked to live "off the grid" as much as possible on a designated date by unplugging appliances, walking or cycling for transportation, turning out lights and decreasing energy usage in any other ways possible.

As the sun sets on the evening of Blackoutsabbath, participants write ways they can contribute to the Earth's well-being throughout the rest of the year. Annual benefit concerts take place to raise awareness of the cause. Special guests performing at the concert included Joan Wasser, Jenni Muldaur, and friend and fellow singer-songwriter Teddy Thompson.^[27] The organization's official site contains updates about the program and contains links to various tools, green products and services, studies, and groups that promote energy conservation and environmental protection.^[28]

Following his 2007–2008 tour, Wainwright began writing his first opera, Prima Donna, about "a day in the life of an opera singer", anxiously preparing for her comeback, who falls in love with a journalist.^[29][30] There are four characters, and the libretto is in French.^[31] The opera was originally commissioned by Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb. However, because of a dispute over Wainwright's decision to write the libretto in French and the Met's inability to schedule an opening in the 2009 season, Wainwright and the Met ended their relationship.^[32] Instead of a New York opening, Prima Donna was staged during the Manchester International Festival, where the first performance took place at the Palace Theatre on July 10, 2009.^[33][34] Reviews for the performance were mixed, with one publication suggesting Wainwright "may struggle to convince critics he is worthy of a place among the greats".^[35] Prima Donna won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Musical/Opera in June 2011.^[36]

In December 2008 Rufus performed alongside his sister, Martha Wainwright, and mother Kate McGarrigle as well as many more of his family at the Knitting Factory in downtown Manhattan. Joined by other artists such as Grammy Award-winner Emmylou Harris, Velvet Underground front man Lou Reed and famed performance artist Laurie Anderson, the eclectic cast performed original and traditional Christmas-themed songs. In November 2009 Revelation Films released the concert on DVD.

[edit] All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu and birth of daughter

In November 2009, Wainwright announced that he had finished recording his sixth studio album, and was calling it All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu.^[37] The album was released on March 23 in Canada, April 5 in the UK and April 20 in the US, with the first single "Who Are You New York?".^[38]

In December 2009, Wainwright appeared with sister Martha Wainwright and mother Kate McGarrigle at the Royal Albert Hall in London, raising $55,000 for the Kate McGarrigle Fund, which was established in 2008 to raise awareness of sarcoma, a rare cancer that affects connective tissue such as bone, muscle, nerves, and cartilage. It was the last performance made by his mother before her death in January 2010.

Wainwright and his partner, German arts administrator Jörn Weisbrodt, in 2010.

In late 2010 Wainwright became engaged to his partner Jörn Weisbrodt.^[39] The couple moved to Toronto, Ontario in early 2012 after Weisbrodt was named artistic director of Toronto's annual Luminato festival.^[40]

In 2011, Wainwright announced that he and Leonard Cohen's daughter, Lorca Cohen, had had a child. He announced on his website: "Darling daughter Viva Katherine Wainwright Cohen was born on February 2, 2011 in Los Angeles, California to proud parents Lorca Cohen, Rufus Wainwright, and Deputy Dad Jorn Weisbrodt. The little angel is evidently healthy, presumably happy, and certainly very very beautiful."^[41]

In July 2011 a 19-disc box set called House of Rufus containing all his studio and live recordings as well as previously unreleased material was released.^[42]

[edit] Out of the Game

Wainwright has recorded a new album with producer Mark Ronson. He claims the new material is more "danceable" than his previous material.^[43] The album, titled Out of the Game will be released in late April 2012 in the UK and Canada and in early May in the US.^[44][45]

Political[link]

Wainwright identifies as "a complete libertarian", and has stated, "I don't think any government should encroach on what goes on in the bedroom at all."^[46]

In April 2010, Wainwright came out publicly in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States because he wishes to marry his partner, Jörn Weisbrodt. Wainwright stated, "I wasn't a huge gay marriage supporter before I met Jörn because I love the whole old-school promiscuous Oscar Wilde freak show of what 'being gay' once was. But since meeting Jörn that all changed."^[47]

Music[link]

In addition to his tenor^[48] singing voice, he plays piano and guitar, often switching between the two instruments when performing live. While some songs feature just Wainwright and his piano, his later work is often accompanied by rock instrumentation or a symphony orchestra, displaying complex layering and harmonies with an operatic feel. Wainwright is an opera fan^[49] and likes Franz Schubert's Lieder.^[50] Some of Wainwright's songs are described as "popera" (pop opera) or "baroque pop". Many of his compositions are densely packed amalgams of strings, horns, operatic choruses, ragtime rhythms, with a warm vocal timbre.^[51]

He often performs with his sister, Martha Wainwright, on backup vocals. Despite critical acclaim, Wainwright has experienced limited commercial success in the United States, although the release of Release the Stars saw increased media attention there, as did the associated 2007 U.S. tour.^[52]

Themes[link]

Wainwright's oeuvre contains several recurring themes: opera, literature, pop culture, politics, and love (often unrequited love). "Foolish Love" and "Danny Boy" are about a crush he once had on a straight guy.^[53] Other songs address full-blown love and the consequences of falling out of love ("This Love Affair", "Leaving for Paris", and "Peach Trees").

Wainwright also sings about his family relationships. "Beauty Mark", "Little Sister" and "Martha", and "Dinner at Eight" address, respectively, his experiences with his mother, sisters, and father.

The song "Matinee Idol" was written about River Phoenix.^[54] "Memphis Skyline" is a tribute to the late singer Jeff Buckley, whom he met briefly in the 1990s when Wainwright was an up-and-coming act. By this time, Buckley had already released his first album Grace, and was well on his way to stardom. The two met several months prior to Buckley's drowning, during a gig by Wainwright. The song references "Hallelujah", a Leonard Cohen song covered by Buckley (and later by Wainwright).^[55] "Nobody's Off the Hook" is written to close friend and fellow musician Teddy Thompson.^[56]

Several songs deal with his experiences with addiction ("Go Or Go Ahead" and "I Don't Know What It Is").

Work in film, television, and theatre[link]

Wainwright at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006

Wainwright has appeared in the films The Aviator and Heights in addition to his role in Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller but said in a 2010 interview "I definitely enjoy seeing myself thirty feet high, but it’s not something that I’m running toward passionately".^[57] He has also recorded tracks specially for films, including Brokeback Mountain, I am Sam, Moulin Rouge!, Shrek, Meet the Robinsons, Big Daddy, Zoolander, and Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man. His recording of "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" plays during the closing credits of the film The History Boys. He is seen in the Denys Arcand film, L’Âge des ténèbres, performing two arias.^[23]

The All I Want DVD, released in 2005, features a full-length documentary (A Portrait of Rufus Wainwright), performances at Central Park SummerStage and Cambridge Corn Exchange, studio sessions, music videos, and two bonus Easter eggs: a 12-minute documentary from 1998, featuring Wainwright and his family, and a short tribute to the McGarrigle sisters featuring Rufus and Martha.

In February 2005, the Pennsylvania Ballet premiered a ballet by Matthew Neenan that was set to Wainwright's music.^[58] The Pennsylvania Ballet has performed the work (titled 11:11) several times, including during an eponymous program in June 2006.^[59] It has been an audience favorite,^[59] although critical reviews have been mixed.^[60]

Stephen Petronio commissioned Wainwright to write a score for his dance production BLOOM, which was performed at Joyce Theater in New York in April 2006. For the lyrics, the two selected poems by Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, and Petronio arranged for the Young People's Choir of New York to sing them.^[61]

In May 2006, Wainwright was one of three guests (along with Robbie Williams and Frances Barber) to star with the Pet Shop Boys in a concert at London's Mermaid Theatre. He covered the Pet Shop Boys' "Casanova in Hell" (from Fundamental). The critically acclaimed show was broadcast on the UK's BBC Radio 2 and repeated on BBC 6 Music, and released as a CD (Concrete) in October 2006.

In June 2007, Wainwright was a part of the multi-artist True Colors Tour, which traveled through 15 cities in the United States and Canada. The tour, sponsored by the Logo channel, began on June 8, 2007. Hosted by comedian Margaret Cho and headlined by Cyndi Lauper, the tour included Debbie Harry, The Gossip, the Indigo Girls, The Dresden Dolls, The MisShapes, and Erasure. Profits went to the Human Rights Campaign. In August 2007, Wainwright said that he considered it a "great honor" to perform on the gay rights tour.^[62]

Wainwright continued to tour during 2007 and embraced forms of expression not usually part of mainstream American music concerts. These included dressing in red lipstick and stiletto heeled shoes to perform Judy Garland songs, and expressing his concerns against the current U.S. political situation. His performances were critically acclaimed.^[63]

In April 2009, Wainwright worked with the Berliner Ensemble and the avant-garde director Robert Wilson, who hired Wainwright to supply the music for a joint staging of Shakespeares Sonette based on Shakespeare's sonnets.^[64]

Discography[link]

• Rufus Wainwright (1998)
• Poses (2001)
• Want One (2003)
• Want Two (2004)
• Release the Stars (2007)
• Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall (2007)
• Milwaukee at Last!!! (2009)
• All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu (2010)
• House of Rufus (2011)
• Out of the Game (2012)

Awards and nominations[link]

Rufus Wainwright portal

Rufus Wainwright won two Juno Awards for Best Alternative Album, one in 1999 for Rufus Wainwright and one in 2002 for Poses.^[65]

At the age of 15, in 1989, he was nominated for a Genie Award for Best Original Song.^[66] A year later he received a nomination for a Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist.^[65] He was also nominated for a BRIT Award for Best International Male Artist in 2008^[67] and a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album in 2009.^[68]

Further reading[link]

• Kirk Lake: There Will Be Rainbows. A Biography of Rufus Wainwright. Orion Publishing Group, London 2009, ISBN 0-7528-9838-8.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rufus Wainwright

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Rufus Wainwright

• rufuswainwright.com
• Rufus Wainwright at Geffen Records
• Rufus Wainwright discography at Discogs
• Biography, Discography, music clips at Allmusic
• Interview with Rufus Wainwright at Sundance London premiere of Sing Me The Songs That Say I Love You

Maura O'Connell (16 September 1958) is an Irish singer and actress. She is known for her contemporary interpretations of Irish folk songs, strongly influenced by American country music.^[1]

Background[link]

O'Connell was born in Ennis, the main town in County Clare, in the west of Ireland. Born into a very musical family, the third of four sisters. Her mother's family owned Costello's fish shop in Ennis where Maura worked, until music became her full-time career. She grew up listening to her mother’s light opera, opera, and parlor song records. Her father's interest leaned towards the rebel ballads. Despite the presence of classical music in the house, O'Connell got very involved in the local folk club scene and together with Mike Hanrahan, who later fronted trad/rock outfit Stockton's Wing, they performed, a country music set, as a duo called 'Tumbleweed'.

Musical career[link]

Solo career[link]

O'Connell began her professional musical journey during a six-week tour of the U.S. in 1980, as vocalist for the traditionally-based Celtic group De Dannan. The following year, she was featured on the band's landmark album, The Star Spangled Molly, (where she has the lead vocals on four tracks) which became something of a national phenomenon in her homeland. However, not long after joining the group she became very interested in the experimental roots music of America's New Grass Revival when the bands' paths crossed, and moved to the U.S. in 1986, settling in Nashville, Tennessee. There she met newgrass pioneers Bela Fleck and Jerry Douglas, with whom she’d work on most of her records.

She recorded her first solo album in 1983, however, it didn't make any impact in Ireland or in the United States. O’Connell received a Grammy nomination for her 1989 album, Helpless Heart, which was her first record released under Warner Bros. Records. Real Life Story (1991), and Blue is the Colour of Hope (1992), registered a move toward a pop synthesis. O'Connell's versions of "Living In These Troubled Times" and Cheryl Wheeler's "Summer Fly" became standout tracks on the 1993 album A Woman's Heart, on four all-female overseas tours and on the 1994 follow-up album in her homeland. A Woman's Heart Vol. 2 features her heartfelt renditions of Nanci Griffith's "Trouble in the Fields" and Gerry O'Beirne's "Western Highway." After numerous album heavily inspired by American newgrass music, O’Connell returned to her Irish roots with the 1997 release, Wandering Home.

As the new millennium approached, O'Connell signed with the Sugar Hill label in late 2000 and began working on her seventh album. Instead of working with her longtime producer Jerry Douglas, O'Connell had Ray Kennedy (who worked with Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams) produce Walls and Windows, which was released in 2001, and featured an eclectic collection of songs, including work by Kim Richey, Van Morrison, John Prine, Eric Clapton and Patty Griffin. Her 2004 album, Don't I Know, contained musical textures added by everything from fiddles, to clavinets, to lap steel and B-3 organ.^[2]

The 2009 album, Naked With Friends, is Maura’s first a cappella album. Guest vocalists include: Mary Black, Paul Brady, Moya Brennan, Jerry Douglas, Alison Krauss, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Tim O'Brien, Dolly Parton, Sarah Dugas, Kate Rusby and Darrell Scott. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award.^[3]

Other work[link]

In addition to her solo work, O'Connell has collaborated with a number of Celtic, folk, pop and country artists, including Van Morrison, Brian Kennedy, Moya Brennan, Mary Black, John Prine, Jerry Douglas, Tim O'Brien, John Gorka, Bela Fleck, Robert Earl Keen, Dolly Parton and Shawn Colvin. She has also sung background vocals for a number of artists, including Van Morrison's 1988 project with the Chieftains, Irish Heartbeat and Stockton's Wing on Take A Chance (Tara3004).

Acting[link]

Aside from the music world, Martin Scorsese cast O'Connell, scruffed up for the role, as an Irish migrant street singer in his 19th century epic The Gangs of New York, released in 2002.

Discography[link]

Albums

• 1983 Maura O'Connell
• 1988 Just in Time
• 1989 Always
• 1989 Helpless Heart (released in Ireland, 1987, as Western Highway)
• 1991 A Real Life Story
• 1992 Blue is the Colour of Hope
• 1995 Stories
• 1997 Wandering Home
• 2001 Walls & Windows
• 2004 Don't I Know
• 2009 Naked With Friends

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Early Interview
• Official Fan Forum

References[link]