The Wainwrights’ roots run deep on the East End of Long Island. “On my father’s side,” the Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright says, “my family has been in East Hampton for 100 years or something. I have many second and third cousins who live out here.”
The prolific musician’s latest release, Rufus Wainwright: Dream Requiem, fuses Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem with Lord Byron’s poem Darkness and features the actress Meryl Streep and the soprano Anna Prohaska. It follows more than 25 years of creatively adventurous works including Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall, an homage to Judy Garland’s 1961 concert; Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets, released 400 years after the Bard’s passing, and a generous collection of pop and folk music that “harks back to the traditions of Tin Pan Alley, cabaret, and even opera,” according to the writer and pop culture historian Jason Ankeny.
The son of the folk musicians Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, Rufus Wainwright spent much of his formative years on Shelter Island. His grandfather, the writer and editor Loudon Wainwright Jr., “decided to become an artist,” he remembers. “Therefore we ended up having to hang in Shelter Island more. It wasn’t quite as opulent back in the day.”
He loves Shelter Island and the North Fork, but “as the years passed, I needed to find a kind of place that reflected all of my sensibilities,” he tells East. “For me, Montauk hits all the bases: the fancy side, the rough side, the big beach, but also the bay. Montauk, in the end, I think of as my place. I tend to never leave.”
He is excited for his teenage daughter, Viva, to experience the summer in Montauk. “When I was a teen I had to hang in Shelter Island, which is not glamorous at all,” he says. “It will be fun to get her a Montauk teenage experience.”
In July 2023, Wainwright and his husband, Jörn Weisbrodt, celebrated twin milestones at the Montauk Lighthouse with Fifty Isn’t the End: A 50th Birthday Concert With Rufus Wainwright and Friends. “We were both born in 1973,” he says. “It was such an incredible night.” Along with his father and sister, Martha Wainwright, the benefit for the storied lighthouse featured Jimmy Fallon, Tig Notaro, and Laurie Anderson. Rufus Wainwright will perform at Canoe Place Inn in Hampton Bays on August 9.
Q: What do you like most about Montauk?
A: The first thing that comes to my mind is food, whether lobsters or fresh scallops or the seabass, when it comes in, and the produce from the great farms. Most evenings, we just turn on the grill and eat at home. Eating here is fantastic. Also, what’s nice about it is an artistic character. When we first started coming out here, I rented a cabin on the old Andy Warhol estate. I was next to Peter Beard, Paul Simon, and would hang out a lot at Shagwong [Tavern], have a good time. It kind of maintains a bohemian atmosphere, yet you feel far away from Manhattan, which is nice. When you drive down Napeague, there’s always this sense of finally exiting the orbit of New York City.
Q: Do you go out to eat, too?
A: We like Mavericks. We love Harvest, that’s always amazing. The locals are great — I’m very good friends with Joni, who has Joni’s. I’m also very good friends with the owner of Hooked, who used to work at the Clam Bar [on Napeague], which we love. We also love . . . I don’t love it so much in terms of cuisine, but I do have cousins who are members of the Maidstone Club [in East Hampton Village]. We make sure to have a brunch there or something, when we’re invited. We hang out on the beach — there are a few Wainwright cabanas. I love those little cabanas, they’re so cute.
Q: Go on. . . .
A: A huge part of my life and my husband’s life — it’s where we met and our relationship began — is the Watermill Center. We try to go to the benefit every year. We’re very close with Robert Wilson [the center’s founder and artistic director], and it’s such an integral part of our experience there.
Q: Where else have you performed locally?
A: Stephen Talkhouse [in Amagansett]. Both of my parents played there a lot, so I grew up singing there and so forth. It’s an institution I’ve been a part of for years. It’s a great place. I also love playing at Guild Hall [in East Hampton]. They did such a good job of the renovation. We’re very good friends with Laurie Anderson also. Suzanne Vega is a close friend. There’s a lot of music, which is nice.
Q: Do you support any particular cause?
A: My sister Martha and I have a charity we work with called Folk Cancer. We help raise money to create grants for musicians who are suffering with serious cancers. They can go in a studio and write music and record songs. [Kate McGarrigle died of clear-cell sarcoma in 2010.] For our mother, being able to write music was very helpful for her at the end of her life. Folkcancer.org.
Q: As a touring musician, you’re on the road a lot. When you are at home, do you spend much time outdoors?
A: The beach is second to none. I had one surfing lesson, and did get up on the board, but am debating the surfing thing. I have heard it’s something you can do well into your 60s if you want, and is probably the best workout. I’m going to ease into that one.