Q Luminato: Rufus Wainwright has come around on Toronto

Montreal-raised troubadour Rufus Wainwright, who once said he found Toronto "really hard to like," seems to be coming around.

The renowned musician, who Sir Elton John once dubbed "the greatest songwriter on the planet," performed live at Q's live Luminato show at Toronto's Winter Garden Theatre on Thursday night and discussed his upcoming Luminato showcase If I Loved You: Gentlemen Prefer Broadway - An Evening of Love Duets. 

He also talks to Jian about being a Montrealer and how that affects his sentiments about Toronto.

"I have to be very honest, I am from Montreal," he says. 

"And growing up in that city -- especially in the 70s, if you remained -- it was pretty drilled into you that the rest of Canada was suspect."

But Wainwright says that living in Toronto has made him change his tune.

"After having been here for a couple years now, I love the city, it's fantastic, it's wonderful," he says. "But what's important and why it's wonderful for me is that this city -- more than any other city in the world, really, and by a large margin -- has really gone to bat for both me and my husband."

Wainwright's Luminato showcase, If I Loved You, will pair Wainwright's vocals with the likes of David Byrne, Boy George, Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend and many others.  He performs If I Loved You on June 14th.

In the clip from Q's live show, he performs from his 2007 album, Release the Stars, and his 2014 best-of album, Vibrate.

You can watch his chat with Jian below:

This interview is part of our special Q Live at Luminato show. It was recorded live on June 5th at the historic Winter Garden Theatre and aired for the first time on Friday, June 6th.