Praised by Sir Elton John as ‘the greatest songwriter on the planet,’ Wainwright adeptly bridges and obscures borders between pop, classical and opera. The New York-born, Montreal-raised singer and composer has released seven studio albums to date, and has collaborated with artists as wide-ranging as Elton John, Burt Bacharach, Robert Wilson, David Byrne, Boy George, Joni Mitchell, Pet Shop Boys, Robbie Williams, Jessye Norman, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Sting, Deborah Voigt, Thomas Hampson and Mark Ronson. In addition to having won multiple Juno and GLAAD Media Awards, he has composed two operas, plus music for film, television and theatre, and has appeared on stage with many of the world’s leading orchestras.

Having first become interested in opera during adolescence, the genre has strongly influenced his music over the years. His debut opera, Prima Donna, premiered at the Manchester International Festival in July 2009 and has since been performed in London, New York, Paris, Buenos Aires and Hong Kong, among others. His second, based on the love story between the Roman Emperor Hadrian and Antinous, was first seen in October 2018 at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto and won a Dora Award for Outstanding New Opera.

On the concert stage, Rufus has worked with orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Residentie Orkest (The Hague), Britten Sinfonia, Orchestre national d’Île-de-France, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the orchestra of the Teatro Real. He has appeared at many of the world’s great concert halls and festivals including the Royal Albert Hall and BBC Proms, Carnegie Hall, London Palladium, Sydney Opera House, Teatro Colón in Argentina, LA’s Hollywood Bowl, the Elbphilharmonie, the Olympia, Glastonbury and Roskilde, and at the Kennedy Center Honors paying tribute to Billy Joel. In 2010, he was joined by his father Loudon Wainwright III and sister Martha, among others, for a five-night residency at London’s Royal Opera House titled House of Rufus.

Australian conductor Benjamin Northey is the Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Conductor in Residence of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Principal Guest Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In 2025 he was appointed Professor of Conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Director of the Australian Conducting Academy. He has previously held the posts of Associate Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (2010-2019), Resident Guest Conductor of the Australia Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra (2002-2006) and Principal Guest Conductor of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra (2007-2010).

Northey studied conducting at Finland's Sibelius Academy with Professors Leif Segerstam and Atso Almila after being accepted as the highest placed applicant in 2002. He completed his studies at the Stockholm Royal College of Music with Jorma Panula in 2006.

He previously studied conducting with John Hopkins OBE at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music from 2000-2002.

Northey appears regularly as a guest conductor with all major Australian symphony orchestras, Opera Australia (La bohème, Turandot, L'elisir d'amore, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Carmen), New Zealand Opera (Sweeney Todd), Victorian Opera (Candide, Into the Woods) and the State Opera South Australia (La sonnambula, L’elisir d’amore, Les contes d’Hoffmann).

His international appearances include concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the Malaysian Philharmonic and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Northey has collaborated with a broad range of leading artists including Lang Lang, Pinchas Zukerman, Wynton Marsalis, Maxim Vengerov, Anne-Sofie von Otter, Julian Rachlin, Karen Gomyo, Piers Lane, Alban Gerhardt, Johannes Moser, William Barton, Lu Siquing, Amy Dickson, Slava Grigoryan, Marc-André Hamelin, James Morrison, Kurt Elling, Archie Roach, Ben Folds, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, Paul Grabowsky, Tim Minchin, kd Lang, Patti Austin, Kate Miller-Heidke, Megan Washington, Barry Humphries, Meow Meow and Tori Amos.

Northey is highly active in the performance and recording of new Australian orchestral music, having premiered dozens of major new works by Australian composers. He has previously been a board member of the Australian Music Centre.

An Aria Awards, Air Music Awards, and Art Music Awards winner, he was voted Limelight Magazine's Australian Artist of the Year in 2018. Northey's many recordings can be found on ABC Classics. In 2025, he conducts the Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland, Tasmanian and Christchurch Symphony Orchestras and the Hong Kong Philharmonic.