Here Comes André Rieu and His Favorite Castle!

Move Over Robbie Williams

Here Comes The King of the Waltz and His Favourite Castle

By Pat Donovan ~ November 8, 2008

NEXT week, about 60,000 people will attend Andre Rieu's three concerts at the Dockland stadium. To illustrate the popularity of the Dutch violinist here, only U2, Robbie Williams and Green Day have been able to fill the stadium in recent years.
Rieu has sold 1.6 million CDs and DVDs in Australia.
So is classical the new rock'n'roll?
"Why not, ja?" says the man known as either King of the Waltz or King of Schmaltz, depending on your taste.
"In the days that it was composed, classical music belonged to everybody. Everyone was whistling Mozart on the streets. And rock'n'roll belongs to everybody. But these days classical music belongs to an elite group who use it to make themselves more important. But I disagree — it belongs to everybody."
As with Hooked on Classics, Stars on 45 and Jive Bunny in the 1980s, Rieu updates classic songs for the mass market. And he cleverly localises it by performing national standards — in Australia's case, it's Waltzing Matilda and I Still Call Australia Home.
He doesn't miss an opportunity. His latest release will be a split recording of Happy Birthday and For He's a Jolly Good Fellow, which will be released as a CD single that doubles as a Christmas card.
And he has already started organising his return concerts at Rod Laver Arena in 2009. Being a tennis fan, he is thrilled to be playing at the home of the Australian Open (he says he would also like to play at Uluru).
For his first shows in Australia, his production team is bringing out the world's largest transportable concert set, based around Vienna's Schoenbrunn Castle and complete with ice skating rinks on which 40 skaters will glide.
"We were playing in Vienna in front of the Schoenbrunn Castle," says Rieu of the set's inspiration.
His music, he believes, transcends age barriers.
"The children of people who work with me are completely mad about me.
"And the same thing happens with very old people who are almost dead. Doctors write to me saying, 'How do you do it? I've been working with these old people for 25 years and your DVD comes in and they dance around.' "
Andre Rieu performs on November 13, 14 and 15 at Telstra Dome.

Rod Laver Arena is in Melbourne and holds 14,000