The 2026 Helsinki Festival opens in grand fashion with Rufus Wainwright’s major work Dream Requiem. Wainwright’s moving requiem for choir, orchestra, soprano and narrator premiered in Paris in 2024. At Helsinki Festival, the work will be performed by Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Dalia Stasevska, actor Laura Birn, soprano Anna Prohaska and the Key Ensemble choir.
Wainwright composed the work during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when human tragedy at moments felt overwhelming. At the same time, wildfires raged across the world. Wainwright wrote the requiem for the people who were lost, for the past we have detached from, and for a future we do not yet know. At the same time, the piece is an ode to touch, togetherness and the human voice – all that became dangerous during the pandemic. In the text of Dream Requiem, Lord Byron’s stark poem Darkness intertwines with the Latin Requiem Mass.
The requiem form has been important to Wainwright since his teenage years, when he first heard Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem. The themes of the mass for the dead have always been present in Wainwright’s brilliant and beloved pop music, and he has also composed two operas.
At the Paris premiere of Dream Requiem, the role of the narrator was performed by the legendary actor Meryl Streep, and the work was conducted by Mikko Franck. Since then, the piece has received an ecstatic reception in Barcelona, Amsterdam, Hamburg and Los Angeles. Helsinki Festival and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra are among the work’s commissioners.
“It does shine a light on the capabilities of the form and the power of a Requiem to move listeners.”
BBC Music
“It was such a triumph.” (..) “The audience went berserk.”
Symphony Magazine
”There’s a real sense of a special occasion about it all.”
The Guardian
“Nothing less than the rumbling embodiment of loss that was COVID.”
Flood Magazine
Yes, but only before or after the concert. During the concert we just want you to enjoy the music. This way you won’t disturb the musicians or other audience members.
Only the orchestra has a dress code. You can dress as you like.
You can give the ticket to a friend or donate it to a music student by calling 09-3102 2700 or sending an e-mail to helsinki.philharmonic@hel.fi by 3pm on the day of the concert.
