Praised by the New York Times for his ‘genuine originality’, Rufus Wainwright has established himself as one of the great male vocalists and songwriters of his generation.

Musically, Rufus has collaborated with artists including Elton John, David Byrne, Boy George, Joni Mitchell, Pet Shop Boys and producer Mark Ronson among others. 

Lauren Foster caught up with Rufus ahead of his headline show at Birmingham's Symphony Hall this month...

What can the audience at your Birmingham concert expect from their evening in your company, Rufus?
A variety of songs from my musical catalogue. I haven’t been back to England since Brexit, so I don’t know whether I’ll sing about it necessarily, but I’m curious to see how everyone’s doing. I’ve been singing a lot of Judy stuff and doing my opera, so I’m kind of missing my own songs. I want to get back to my old pop work.

How did your latest album, Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets, come about, and what are your thoughts about the finished product?
As with any interesting work of art, I really had no idea what was going to happen at the outset of that album. I had a vague theory of what it could sound like, but I was able to let go and let things occur - and what filled the spaces was pretty tremendous in my opinion. Whether it’s from a classical angle or a pop one, there are attempts there at doing something interesting, so I’m very proud of the album - and especially because it was such a group effort, with all these other great artists. I’d love to put it all on stage and perform the whole thing, but that would cost a pretty penny. Maybe we’ll wait until Shakespeare’s 450th anniversary for that. 

As you just mentioned, an array of guests, including Helena Bonham Carter, William Shatner and Florence Welch, feature on the album. Were these people all hand-picked by you, and if so, for what reasons were they selected? 
Some of them were more solicited than others. I definitely wanted Florence on the album from an early stage. I really feel she personifies the Shakespearian character and spirit more than any other pop star around. She’s sort of like Titania, queen of the fairies, so I definitely wanted to have her. We made a lot of the album in LA and London, where the world’s greatest movie stars live, so we were able to find people in close proximity. And then there were other contributors, like the Berlin Ensemble, who do the one piece in German.    

You've written operas as well as pop songs. How does the discipline of composing an operatic work differ from that of songwriting, and which challenges you the most?
Well, they’re both equally as challenging but on totally different fronts. Pop is about your inner life, and you’re trying to express your feelings, but it’s very much through a filter. The goal is for the listener to get it and to react to it. That’s very exciting when it works and quite tragic when it doesn’t. With opera, there’s no filter; it’s really about what you want to do with those characters that you’ve created. You just have to write what you want to write and what you’re hearing. There’s so much music to compose - whether it’s for the orchestra, the singers or the putting together of the drama. It just takes every ounce of your being, so you don’t really have time to give a shit, which is kind of fun.

Is opera in good shape at the moment or do you see problems ahead?
Opera’s never solid in terms of its foundations. It’s so expensive to put on and for people to go and see, so it’s always a bit rickety. There are great things going on, and I do believe the younger generation will at some point get tired of being constantly pandered to commercially; whether it’s selling sneakers or bras or whatever, just really being taken advantage of by commerce. This kind of unholy marriage between pop and commerce is kind of fun on the outside, but opera’s more about what’s on the inside. I feel that people will gravitate to that eventually, when they’re a bit older. I have faith that we’ll all see each other in opera houses somewhere when we’re about to die.

What prompted you to embrace the challenges of opera?
It’s the ultimate art form, when you have all those elements working in concert; the orchestra, the singers, the costumes, the lighting, the drama, the hall, the beautiful acoustics. There’s really nothing quite as compelling when it all works, and nothing as horrifyingly dissonant when it doesn’t. It’s a very daring and problematic art form and that’s why I like it - it’s just a challenge.

In the past, you’ve said that songwriting for you is a bodily function. Can you explain in what way? 
Well, I started young and both my parents were songwriters, so it was always around. It was a language that we communicated in, so it wasn’t that different to eating or going to the bathroom or sleeping or anything. At certain points it was hard for me to put down the guitar or walk away from the piano and just deal with my life as a human being like everybody else - that was tricky. I was able to make that distinction eventually, and that’s a very important thing for an artist to do; they need to realise that they’re not instruments.

Your parents are the late Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wain­wright III. How did having such a musically gifted mother and father impact on your childhood?
I was very fortunate. Thankfully my mother decided to really sacrifice her career in order to bring up her children - not that I’m insisting that for a mother. She kept writing songs, making records, and it was still a brilliant life for her, but she definitely knew that when she had kids she had to spend a lot of time on that, so she made that distinction. My sister and I were very fortunate that she decided to make that decision.

Has your daughter, Viva, shown any early signs of musical talent, and does she ever come and watch you perform?
She has a beautiful voice and loves to perform. After one of my shows was finished, I walked off and she was right there, next to the stage. She yelled at me, ‘Now it’s my turn’. We’ll see how things develop - if she wants to be a dentist, that’s cool too.  

Your seventh album, Out Of The Game, was produced by Mark Ronson. Tell us a bit about how that came about...
I’ve been such a fan of Mark’s work for so many years and we have a lot of friends in common - people like Sean Lennon and Florence Welch and other people - so we’re always in the same circles. He’s also one of the most handsome fixtures of the music business, so I was also drawn to him like a moth to a flame. We did finally get to work together, and it was exactly what I needed at the time. I was in full-fledged mourning over my mother’s death. I just needed to have a little fun and write some kooky pop songs; I got to do that with Mark, which was a real godsend at the time.  

If you could collaborate with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?
Well, after doing the sonnets with Shakespeare, it would be fun to have him write nine new sonnets and then I could do them. I think that album would sell some copies.

And finally, what does the future hold for Rufus Wainwright?
Well, I’m finishing my second opera, Hadrian, and I can definitely announce that after producing and writing two operas and working with Shakespeare’s sonnets, I’m itching to get back into the pop world. I can’t wait to let loose and put into it the little bit of youth I have left. So don’t worry, I will be back to the disco.

Rufus Wainwright plays Symphony Hall, Birmingham on Friday 15 July.