23846 DREAM REQUIEM (Wainwright)

Europe, 6/2024. WORLD PREMIERE. Mikko Franck, conductor. Meryl Streep, narrator. Anna Prohaska, soprano.

Rufus Wainwright, for whom no task is impossible, has composed a requiem in memory of the victims of the Covid-19 pandemic. An ode to life, the energy of which is expressed by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the participation of actress Meryl Streep.
As a teenager, Rufus Wainwright heard Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem , and it was to have a lasting impact on him. The American has always incorporated elements of classical music into his pop, and has even written two operas: Prima Donna and Hadrian . His fascination with the form of the requiem culminated during the lockdown in a work that he dedicated to the corona victims. An ode to solidarity, to touch and voice, which had become a dangerous risk of infection during the pandemic. At the same time, in the requiem, Wainwright reflects on the increase in natural disasters and ecological collapse, and interweaves the Latin text of Verdi's requiem with Lord Byron's apocalyptic poem "Darkness." This was written in 1816 after the eruption of the Tambora volcano, which was followed by the "year without summer." Mikko Franck conducts the world premiere of the requiem with soprano Anna Prohaska and the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France . This concert welcomes a special guest: the actress Meryl Streep who will take on the role of reciter for the occasion and will read the poem "Les Ténèbres" by Lord Byron. Recorded on June 14, 2024 at the Auditorium de Radio France, Paris.