RUFUS WAINWRIGHT:
Rufus has a lifelong connection to the Hamptons. The Wainwrights are social fixture in East Hampton. Rufus would spend his childhood summers on Shelter Island where his dad now has a home and take the bike each day to East Hampton to be part of the posher side of the Hamptons.
He met his husband Jorn Weisbrodt in Berlin in the spring of 2005 and in the summer of the same year they solidified their relationship in the guesthouse on the old Andy Warhol Estate in Montauk that Rufus rented from Paul Morrissey. Since then, Montauk has been their happy place.
They bought their house in Hither Hills in 2008. It was built in the late 50s by Irving Berlin’s musical secretary Helmut Kresa and allegedly he notated “White Christmas” at the house. They got married in their garden in 2012 with about 300 friends attending including Yoko Ono, Marina Abramovic, the late Lou Reed, Ingrid Sischy and Carrie Fisher, Julianne Moore, and Mark Ronson among others. The afternoon ceremony was followed by a swim at their beloved Hither Hills Beach and dinner at the Clam Bar on Montauk Highway followed by an afterparty at Montauk’s Shagwong.
On his 2012 released Mark Ronson produced 7th studio album “Out of the Game” Rufus sings an ode to his beloved Montauk.
Both Jorn and Rufus turn 50 in 2023. Rufus prefers working on his birthday, which is actually the 22nd of July but since his daughter Viva would not be able to attend as she will be in her summer camp, they decided to move the celebration slightly earlier.
Rufus’ dream had always been to do a concert on the lawn at the iconic Lighthouse in Montauk, and when they met the director of the Montauk Historical Society Mia Certic, she enthusiastically embraced the idea. The concert will be a benefit for the Montauk Historical Society to support the operations of this beloved New York Landmark. All performers are donating their services.
MONTAUK HISTORIAL SOCIETY:
The Montauk Historical Society is the nonprofit organization that owns the Montauk Point Lighthouse. It costs over $1.5 million a year to run the lighthouse and museum. Special events, like its annual benefit concert, are an essential way to fund programming and maintenance. An extensive restoration of the tower and the exterior of the museum will be completed this summer after over five years of work and planning, and at a cost of $1.8 million. It was funded by grants, generous donations, and admission fees. https://montaukhistoricalsociety.org/restoration-first-phase/. A $38 million revetment led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and New York State’s Department of Environmental Control, finished earlier this year, will safeguard the lighthouse for future generations. The mission of the Montauk Historical Society is to collect, restore, preserve, and display historically significant buildings, objects, and writings, and to preserve the history and cultures of Montauk and the East End for this and future generations.
