André Rieu Turns 58 !!

October Arrives and So Does André!!

October 1, 1949

"Happy Birthday André From The Harmony Parlor"

May All Your Dreams Come True and Your Special Day Be Filled With

Love, Family, Friends And LOTS of Music!!

Y Y Y

André Rieu Talks to Spencer Howson

Andre Rieu talks to Spencer Howson
Last Update: Wednesday, September 26, 2007. 1:23pm

By Heidi Ellis
Two weeks ago, after persistent encouragement by one of our listeners, Breakfast presenter Spencer Howson sat down and watched an Andre Rieu concert on DVD. Rieu is a Dutch violinist and conductor Spencer had never had never heard of, but now he's hooked.

Needing to know more, Spencer lined up to talk to Andre. To help him out he called in the fans who recommended Rieu to him in the first place, Brian and Jill from Ningi.

An enthused Brian jumped right in to ask when Andre which cities would be included in Andre's tour of Australia, planned for December next year. "We are planning to go to five cities, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Because we have so many fans here we are going to plan to play in the football stadiums."

Andre has grand plans for the visit. "We were playing in Vienna... a year ago with the dancers and the horses and the ice wings and I'm going to copy that whole decoration, the whole chateau, the whole castle and I'll bring the whole thing to Australia."

Andre says he wasn't snubbing Australia by not coming in the past. "It's a long, long way to go to Australia. And nobody is paying me, no government is paying me, so it's very difficult to pay everything, to be able to pay everything and bring the whole circus over. So I had to wait until the record company would make me known to the people and that's what they did now and so they created the opportunity for me to be able to come over."

So what makes Andre's performances so special? "I think I am simply myself on stage and I try to give them the feeling that they don't have to afraid for classical music or even for me. People always ask how do I make my programs and it's very simple, I make them with my heart. When it touches me then it will touch the audience.

Andre Rieu and his orchestra will perform in Australia for the first time in December 2008.

Vilma And Friends With André Rieu in Sydney

Vilma~Sharon~Lee In Sydney With André

Friends In Sydney With André!!

We (Lee Purser, and my friend from America, Sharon) arrived at the Mall at 1/4 to 8 and there were already people there from 5AM!!! So we weren't the first. Had fabulous seats~2 rows behind the disabled seating~made some wonderful new friends ... what is it about Andre followers?

"The Man" arrived right on 12, played "My Way" and then "Waltzing Matilda" followed by another verse and chorus of Matilda. We all sang along to that.

There were over 5,000 there ... 3,000 were expected.

He mentioned late November early December 2008 for his concerts here, at 5 cities ... Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Tickets will probably go on sale in the next 6 weeks. It will be HUGE when he comes as he's bringing everything over ... something like Toronto we heard.

leifs, Vilma

Annette and Mike See André Rieu In Sydney

André Playing Waltzing Matilda!

The audience started to arrive from 5am. People had come there from Darwin, Perth, Melbourne, Queensland & New Zealand.

The promoter told me the audience was estimated at 5,000. The area we were in held 200. You can imagine the overflow, balconies alone had 500. Security was very tight as it should have been.

André arrived at 12 noon, played My Way and Waltzing Matilda twice ~ with everybody singing. (André played from a piece of paper being held for him)
He told us that he would be having concerts in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in November and December 2008 with dates to be confirmed in a few weeks. He signed CD & DVD covers until 1.20pm and was driven away at 1.40pm.

Sydney certainly warmly embraced André.
Warmest greetings ~ Annette & Mike

Kate Meets André Rieu At The Kerri Anne Show

Two Friends And A Dream That Came True

It started a week before with a little planning and guesswork. My friend Anne Roddick and I were desperate to catch any glimpse of Andre. Once we heard of where he would be the brain cells got ticking. We thought of going and standing outside the radio station but decided the next day at the TV studio would be our focus.

I was listening to the Alan Jones interview and when he said we could ring in and speak to Andre I thought I would give it a try. I never usually have much luck with this sort of thing. So dialled the number and bingo I was through on the queue. I nearly had a heart attack and had no idea what to say. I froze. My husband was standing by to pick me up. Next thing this voice said 'Hello Kate" OMG concentrate and don't say what I would of really liked to have said,(even with my husband next to me) so I think I waffled on about something. Then it was over - one minute to tell Andre how gorgeous he is and I didn't even do that! So I thought at least I had my Andre moment and I would be happy with that. At least I spoke to him.

So onto the next plan. Anne was coming to my place for 4.30am to set out to Channel 9 studios near where I live. We wanted to SEE Andre and try and get a photograph at least. We thought there might be a crowd and we wanted to be in the front of everyone. We got there at 5.30am and parked, no-one else was there. The security guards told us where to wait. We needed more info so my charm came out and I got chatting with security to find out what was happening and asked him to stall Andres car so we could take a photo. He said he would see what he could do. So 6.30 am passes weather wasn't to good but our excitement kept us warm. Faye and Jill arrived at 7.30 so it was nice to meet some others and put faces to emails. At 8am a receptionist arrived and came directly to us and said she would see what she could do for us to see Andre. So by 8.30 there were 7 of us. Then a camera man came over to us (did I do some begging with him!) and checked us out and said he would try and get us into the studio as a small audience. We nearly all flipped and hoped that no one else would turn up.

So we waited, then a limousine turned into the driveway, but no it was Al Gore. Camera man came back and said we were in!. We were wrapped. We were going to watch Andres interview. We were not allowed to take in cameras or phones, so we had to hand them into security. So we waited again and then suddenly another limousine turned into the driveway and pulled up at the boom gate. It was HIM. The windows were so dark we could not see where Andre was sitting. He would not stop for photographs. Oh well maybe later.

We saw him get out of the car. Then we waited some more and then saw the cameraman coming towards us - this was it! Across to the studio we walked (almost ran). Thought we had better behave ourselves. Then waited again for a few more minutes -so close. Then we were ushered in - OMG there he was, standing talking to Kerri-Ann. I could not take my eyes off him. There were 7 chairs for us to sit on. It was surreal, we were all gobsmacked and speechless. Have you ever seen six middle-aged ladies stop talking! He waved to us. I thought I had gone to heaven and this was a dream. Then the show started and he played My Way. We were closer than front row at his concerts. Then we watched the interview. When that finished we thought that was it. So we were just standing there in our little group and he came towards us and said hello and shook our hands. He didn't realise he had already shook my hand and then he went to shake my hand again, I wasn't going to knock back a second go!

Then we were led out of the studio. No photos were allowed, but he did give us something far better. This was better than anything else on this earth. So in the end we had about 30minutes of seeing Andre up close. It was so kind of him to allow us in. And for Channel 9 and Kerri-Ann. Especially as they told Andre we had been there since 5.30am. So then we waited again for him to drive out, but of course you cant see in the dark windows of the car. So it was all over.

I don't remember driving home ...

So the next plan ~ Sunday at Warringah Mall. Another early start.But this time all I want is a photograph of Andre in Sydney, that I took. Back from Warringah Mall. It was another long day arriving there at 5.30 am and we were not the first. Eventually the crowd was about 4000. It was a nice morning and Andre was his usual charm, handsome and looked like he was bearing up ok. Anne and I got his autograph. He must of thought 'heres those two silly women again'.
We managed to meet up with some other bloggers.

The highlight for Anne and I was definitly the Channel 9 studio
visit with André at the Kerri Anne Show

Anne and I met through a message board about two months ago and arranged to have lunch together one day. Whilst having lunch we just dreamed of going to a concert one day and wouldn't it be nice to meet Andre and that was it. Never did we realise that two months later we would actually meet him and in such close contact. I think I will have her friendship forever as we suddenly shared a dream. We still can't believe two months later that we have met Andre and actually had the privilege to watch him in the studio ............ Kate

André Rieu At Eastland Shopping Centre ~ Melbourne, Australia

Photo by Frank

Here's André playing "My Way"

at the Eastland Shopping Centre in Melbourne.

Thank you for the picture Gina!! Aussie fans for Andre

Another Guess Who

Another school picture and another guess who. This is a fifth grade picture at the St Franciscus school in Bunde, Limburg. It is school picture of a long time JSO member who left a few years ago but can still to be seen in many older DVDs among them 'Life is beautiful'. Who can guess who this is? The winner will get a copy of d'n Blauwen aovond

http://www.andrerieutranslations.com/collections/CDs/Blauwen.html

André Rieu's Live Radio Interviews in Australia

WATCH ~ André Rieu Live in Studio!!
Amazing André Rieu

Violinist and conductor Andre Rieu granted Ernie Sigley a fascinating

interview on Friday,and thanks to Mytalk, you can share the experience

and learn what inspires a musical genius.

WATCH: André Rieu in Studio

From The Australian

September 21, 2007

Andre's Violin Comes With Its Own Guard

MOST musicians would be happy to perform at the Sydney Opera House, but with just 2600 seats, it's too small for the Dutch violinist Andre Rieu.
Instead, he will bring not one, but three replicas of Vienna's Schonbrunn Palace to Australia for a national tour next year. The palace will form the backdrop for his arena concerts.

He will also bring his own orchestra, ice-skaters and a ballroom-full of waltzers: about 250 people in all. "We come with horses, the whole circus," Rieu said in Sydney yesterday. A smaller entourage has accompanied Rieu for this week's promotional visit.

His own television crew is filming him for a "road-soap", plus he has assistants and a security guard for his Stradivarius violin. He said he had 120 people on his payroll. With such overheads, presumably the Opera House is too small. "I have to come to Australia and bring everybody here," he said. "I cannot pay (for) this show, with all the flights and hotels, with 2000 people paying for a ticket. To make it worthwhile, I have to go in big venues. And I have a lot of fans." He wouldn't be drawn on production costs, but said "I don't count in dollars, I count in euros. I am taking big risks to do this."

Rieu has sold 23 million albums worldwide, according to his record company. In Australia, he has sold 300,000 albums, sales largely due to broadcasts of his concerts on pay-TV arts channel Ovation. His concerts - such as that at the Schonbrunn Palace, and New York's Radio City Music Hall - are extravaganzas with lights, costumes and jokes.

Rieu's speciality is light classical music, such as Viennese waltzes by Johann Strauss. He's been called the Liberace of the violin. "I know the name Liberace but I don't know exactly ... he was a pianist, Las Vegas," Rieu said. "I'm more music than showbiz."

Nevertheless, Rieu wants to take classical music out of stuffy concert halls and have some fun. Music had become elitist, he said. "I take away the fear people have of classical music, by looking them in the eye and making a joke," he said. "And then the ice is broken."

Rieu has founded his own orchestras and production company and, with his wife, still acts as his own agent. "I am 58 now, and my dream is to be 120, taking my audience by the hand and showing them classical music," he said. "It's a long journey. I'm only there for 10 years.

André Rieu At The Geldredome in Arnhem ~ From Arie

The Gelredome in Arnhem is a stadium with a removable roof. Outside it was raining, but inside you stay dry. André had mounted about 100 chandeliers. It was really beautiful. You could hear an echo, but the acoustics were not so bad.

The concert was romantic and beautiful! When Carmen or Mirusia were singing their voices seam they acquired wings and sounded so loud in this stadium. I made some video recordings in High Definition. The sound was not so good and influenced by applauding people in my neighborhood. Laura Engel and Resie Vahsen were back in the Choir. The following sopranos have sung; Mirusia, Carmen and Suzan. I thought Carla Maffioletti was also invited to sing, but she wasn't there.

The Harlem Gospel Choir was there with other artist as we have seen before. One member spoke something in Dutch which was appreciated by the audience. André was dancing with them. It was so funny.
The HGC sang as a European choir the Sisteract and the Nun's choir from Johann Strauss. André had invited also from Vienna the Wiener Debutantenen. They dance like as in Vienna.
A Golden Coach with 6 white horses was also there. This coach was intended for Sissi.

I saw a few friends before the concert. Monique, Thea and Janny were there on Saturday and wear beautiful 17 century colorful dresses. André saw them and liked that a lot! Funny isn't it?
Even the next day it was written in the Newspapers.

On my website at http://www.myspace.com/abussemaker there are already a few video's from Arnhem for watching. Just beneath my profile picture you will find Video's. I intend to upload some more videos. I have to transform them first before uploading.

Be patience,

Arie

Click here for direct link to Arie's Arnhem Video's

Arie's Arnhem Concert Video's

André Rieu's Dream Comes True in Arnhem!!

Monique ~ Janny ~ Thea

Dear friends,
Finally .... André's dream came true ... didn't he say he was only

dreaming about princes and princesses since his visit in funpark

"De Efteling" ?? We made it come true and you should have seen his face ...

he was so delighted !!! Yesterday there was a little comment about us

in a Dutch newspaper, kind of funny !!!
I am working on the report, but please try to be patient ...

love from rainy Holland, Monique

GUESS WHO???

Who could this be??? It is a picture of the second grade of a much beloved JSO member. The picture was taken in the second grade during the 1968-69 school year at the Ambrosius school in Maastricht, Limburg.

I will make a copy of the "Vrijthofconcert" CD from 1991 with the Maastricht Salon Orchestra for the winner. Check out the picture of the CD on
www.andrerieutranslations.com/collections/CDs/Andre-CDs.html

André Rieu #5 On Billboards Classical Charts

Sept. 15, 2007

New on the chart this week is the latest release by crossover violinist

André Rieu, Radio City Music Hall: Live in New York (no. 5)

Great news for André ~ It was just released here Sept. 11 and is #5 !!

André Rieu Appearing At Warringah Mall

Photo by Heather

André Rieu Appearing At The Warringah Mall
From the Warringah Mall Website

Members of the public will be treated to a very special appearance from highly acclaimed and internationally renowned Dutch violinist André Rieu at Warringah Mall on Sunday 23 at 12pm! André Rieu will be performing "My Way" from his hit DVD "André Rieu - Radio City Music Hall Live in New York". Following the performance, André Rieu will be signing DVD's for a limited time only.

Where: Centre Stage, Level 1 Arena Cove.
When: Sunday 23 September 2007, from 12 noon.

Look At My New CD!!

I am very proud, I just received Mirusia's CD.

It really is a wonderful CD and her voice is just magnificent.

I took it to school today and played it for my kids.

One of my boys is in love with her from her picture and wants to meet her. ;-)

Liefetjes, Sonja

If You Were In Maastricht!

Maastricht in July ~ Are You In The Crowd???

This is a picture from Andre's Website of Saturday nights concert.
Suzie Henise sent me an email and said she saw some of us in the crowd.
If you were there, can you find yourself?
Suzie had found me (Sue), Laurie, Ingrid and Dave. :)

Who Do You Think It Is?

This picture is from the Sint Aloysius school in Maastricht.
It was taken in the 1957-1958 school year and is the third grade.
WHO DO YOU THINK IT IS?

THE MYSTERY HAS BEEN SOLVED.
Congratulations to Joan, Jeanine and Eileen. Andre is the third little boy from the right in the back row!!! He has a large mop of hair and is kind of hiding. (shy)

Radio City Music Hall On Sale

Andre Rieu's "RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL LIVE IN NEW YORK"

In Stores September 11

SANTA MONICA, CA--(Marketwire - September 7, 2007) - Andre Rieu, already one of the top performing and selling classical artists worldwide and a platinum-selling artist in the US, is on course to break all of his previous sales benchmarks with the release of his new PBS special "RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL LIVE IN NEW YORK." Currently airing on PBS stations nationwide, "RADIO CITY" is by far the most successful program for the network so far with over 1000 prime time airings in markets across the country including powerhouse stations in New York City (WNET) and Los Angeles (KCET). Denon Classics will release "RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL LIVE I" on September 11 on CD and DVD. Rieu will embark on another arena tour of the western US in October, which will be followed by his eastern dates in the spring which have consistently sold out for years.

Says Steve Vining, President of the Savoy Label Group: "The unprecedented response to Andre's first US produced special at PBS and his ever growing retail presence will make the commercial release of this extraordinary concert event his most successful to date. His unique gift of delighting audiences is nowhere more evident than the phenomenal live 'RADIO CITY' spectacular."

Andre Rieu has always been an artist who has generated unparalleled excitement within (and beyond) the realm of classical music. His spectacular specials produced around the world have consistently been the #1 performing pledge drive programs for PBS, his last twelve CDs have landed within the top of Billboard's Classical chart with several debuting in the #1 spot, he's won multi-platinum video sales awards for his DVD sets, "The Ultimate Andre Rieu Collection" and "The Ultimate Andre Rieu Christmas Collection," and his tours have grown bigger each year, regularly selling out arenas in the US and landing him in the Top 5 of Pollstar Magazine's top touring acts year after year.

Must Save Rieu Concerts

Photo by Arie

This is the latest article in the "Limburger" regarding Andre's concerts.
Let's hope it all works out ~ John and Bobbie

"Contract" With The Horeca (Hotel, Restaurant, Cafe)

Must Save the Rieu Concerts

Maastricht 7 September 2007
The Horeca proprietors of the Vrijthof will come together in the coming week to create new regulations in limiting the noise levels during the Rieu concerts. If they agree on a workable proposal, the chance is great that the Andre Rieu concerts will continue on the Vrijthof next year.

That was the result of a meeting between Mayor Gerd Leers of Maastricht, and the proprietors of the Vrijthof Horeca, which was organized by the Mayor on 6 September. Gerd Leers called the proprietors together after it was learned that, during the concerts this past July, several terraces produced so much noise that the musicians could not perform properly and the concert attendees could not enjoy the concert as they should.
Because of that situation, Rieu wanted to discontinue that summertime concert tradition. The ticket sales have also been suspended.

The proprietors were unanimous in their huge interest in having the concerts continue, and promised to create code of conducts, which will contain concrete rules as to what is allowed and what is not.

These agreements will contain amongst others, that serving will only be allowed before, after and during intermission of the concert. In addition, groups of people will not be allowed, and those who are not behaving accordingly, will very strongly be advised regarding their behavior. The proprietors will also include sanctions in the agreement, should the rules be broken.

If the proprietors are successful in creating a firm and decisive agreement, they, the city and Andre Rieu will sign that agreement on Sunday 16 September.

Translation by John DeJong

André Rieu Comes To Australia

André Rieu Comes To Australia

September 5th, 2007
"King of Waltz" André Rieu in Australia for the first time
by Erika Gelinard

Dutch "king of waltz" André Rieu is visiting Australia for the first time this month, coming to Sydney on September 19 and 20, then to Melbourne to promote his first Australian tour in 2008 with the quaintly named Johann Strauss Orchestra. But Rieu maintains the suspense when it comes to tour dates and the program: these won't be announced until he appears on Australian TV.

The 57 year-old violinist and conductor, international star of light classical music, has been a phenomenon in Europe, America and Japan since the release of Strauss & Co in 1994. Catching up with this trend, Universal Music says that the number of Australian fans - mainly mature women - has soared in the last year. It's their first chance to see the man whose CDs they've been buying in truckloads.

"André's success in Australia is unmatched in chart history. The domination of the Australian DVD chart is an absolute phenomenon in terms of sales," says Universal Music Australia MD, George Ash. On August 6, Rieu's Aria was in the Australian Top 10 and his last DVD release in October 2006, New York Memories has made double platinum here.

André Rieu's accessible music, romantic performances, melodramatic staging and lavish costumes - his future shows even include Viennese ballet dancers, ice dancers and actors on stage - have given him pop star status. He has sold 23 million CDs and DVDs worldwide and won the World Music Awards in 1996 and 1998.

Rieu has something of the pop star: romantic wavy hair, broad telegenic smile and trademark tuxedo, swooning fans and those spectacular concerts.
"At one of our concerts you'll see me and the orchestra, and the audience too, all having a lot of fun together. Swaying with the music, humming along, clapping, jumping up and down", he says on his website: it's not exactly the Stones but millions simply don't care.

Rieu's desire to bring the classical repertoire to a large popular public goes back to his childhood experience as a conductor's son: "I can remember being surprised at the sombre atmosphere during the concerts ... even though the music seemed to me to radiate so much joy!"

Although this will be Australia's first sighting of Rieu in the flesh, he's been a prolific artistic with 19 CDs released here since 1994. And in case that's not enough, before the end of the year, another five albums and DVDs are promised with Wonderful World scheduled for November release.