Rufus Wainwright

Rufus Wainwright writes ornate, theatrical songs that draw as much from opera and Broadway as from folk and pop. He built a following with albums like "Want One" and "Want Two," and he has also composed full operas and set Shakespeare's sonnets to music. His voice and his arrangements both go big, and he treats a pop song like it can hold as much drama as an aria.

He plays Boettcher Concert Hall in Denver, a fitting room for an artist who writes for orchestras as easily as he writes for guitar and piano.