Sunday Herald Sun Australia ~ Oct.11, 2009 André Rieu brings joy to his audience and his players writes Nui Te Koha. Britney Spears, Madonna and Tina Turner are, so far, the top three concert earners in 2009. Fourth place honours, however, went to a different kind of superstar ~ Waltz King André Rieu. According to worldwide box office tracker Pollstar, Rieu had sold 554,242 tickets and taken $57.4 million in gross revenue from January to July.
"Three girls were on top of me ... which is fantastic," Rieu chuckles. "I like women."
Rieu loves that his vision to take classicial music to the masses is finally backed by serious numbers."It was my dream and I never thought we could take it this far," Rieu, who turned 60 last week, says. "But I still want to bring people closer to classical music." I want people who never had the chance to listen to classical music to know how beautiful it is. It will make your life better and can change your heart.That sounds a little bit chliched, but it's true.This music is in my blood. It's important to play music and listen to music that goes to your heart. That is my message. For me, music is not, 'I'm better than you because I like classical music'. No, on the contrary."
But Rieu knows better than to be dazzled by his box office figures. Last year, Rieu had the world's eighth highest earning tour. It took $76 million. "Oh, please," he laughs. "Don't read the numbers in those things. It's a lot of money, I know. But it's not the gross that counts, it's the positive that stays under the line that counts. When I travel to Australia with three castles and 500 people in my team, you can imagine how much money stays under the line."
His tour party for stadium shows includes 50 logistics personnel, 100 orchestra, choir members and soloists,100 dancers, iceskaters, marching and pipe band members, 50 production/wardrobe staff and chefs and 20 sound and lighting technicians.
But Rieu is a generous boss. His Orchestra, which has backed Rieu for 30 years, choir and soloists get five-star travel and accommodation. "Can you imagine that we stay together for 30 years, we have fun every night on stage, I ask them to give 100 percent and then I fly in a plane and they go in a bus? Or I eat gourmet things and they have McDonald's? No. It's not possible. We are together and we stick together. When they eat McDonald's, I eat McDonald's. When I eat five-star, they eat five-star. But I expect 100 percent, playing with heart and that's what they do."
They are a really happy bunch too, as one US critic noted when Rieu performed in Boston. Rieu said the critic thought the playful, buoyant mood in the orchestra was staged. "He thought it was a beautiful night, but said something like, 'André, please be honest. Is there something in their contracts that say they must laugh all night?"
But Rieu argues it is their joyful music that uplifts. He cites his annual hometown show in Maastricht in the Netherlands. "It's in a big square in the open air with 30,000 people," Rieu says. "There are only two policemen ... and they dance with the crowd. That is how my music speaks to the times. "A week later, there is a dance party with 20,000 people. For this, they need hundreds of police because of fights and the music is too loud."
After Rieu's hometown show, he's swamped with flowers from local restaurants and hotels."They thank me because their businesses are filled with people who are nice to each other," Rieu says. ..... Thanks to Jann for sending this and typing it out for us again!! :)
Oct 11, 2009
André Rieu is Still Breaking Records in Australia
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
CLICK ON LINK BELOW TO CONTINUE READING ALL ARTICLES ON THE HARMONY PARLOR!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
TOP TEN VIEWED POSTS IN THE PAST WEEK
-
André Rieu's Wife Does Not Like To Speak About Herself She Makes An Exception For BILD Stars His Family ... W...
-
André Rieu What His Wife Reveals About Their Marriage She loves the sound of Waltzes and would dance to the music the rest of...
-
After a purple tulip, a Lottum rose now also bears the name of André Rieu, and he likes the rose even better. De Limburger, by Kitty Bor...
-
Happy '60th' Birthday André From ALL Your Fans Around The World! We took this picture last July in Maastricht with the Happy 60th B...
-
Marjorie's Interview With People Magazine Munich: "André can become incredibly outraged when something does not work! Moreover, ...
-
The Newspaper “The Limburger” posted a series of Congratulations by prominent people, colleagues and fans of André Rieu on the occasi...
-
The Story Behind The Hit: " The Second Waltz" illustration Katinka Hanselman, photo Mitchel Giebels Golden grip: performa...
-
And That's Five! Rieu Announces Another Extra Christmas Concert Rieu during one of the Vrijthof concerts earlier this summer-Photo ...
-
King of The Waltz (70) Celebrates His Birthday In "His" Maastricht André Rieu: "Without Marjorie, I would be in th...
TOP TEN VIEWED POSTS IN THE PAST THIRTY DAYS
-
André Rieu's Wife Does Not Like To Speak About Herself She Makes An Exception For BILD Stars His Family ... W...
-
André Rieu What His Wife Reveals About Their Marriage She loves the sound of Waltzes and would dance to the music the rest of...
-
Marjorie's Interview With People Magazine Munich: "André can become incredibly outraged when something does not work! Moreover, ...
-
Sanne Mestrom , saxophonist with the Johann Strauss Orchestra, and about joy and music. Where music sounds, you are at home Adams A-...
-
Getting Acquainted With Clarinetist Manoe Konings Manoe Konings was reading music before she knew her A B C’s. As a little girl she used ...
-
Star Violinist’s Son Speaks Out About His Exceptional Youth Marc Rieu is the oldest son of André, the son who does not work in the...
-
The Story Behind The Hit: " The Second Waltz" illustration Katinka Hanselman, photo Mitchel Giebels Golden grip: performa...
-
" Husband and Wife Having Fun on Stage" Suzan and Mitch in Norway I wrote to Suzan about posting these new pictures of her and Mi...
-
Mirusia’s Wedding Waltz emperor must henceforth share his muse Mirusia Rieu provides his "angel" with a bridegroom. ...
TOP TEN ALL TIME VIEWED POSTS
-
Marjorie's Interview With People Magazine Munich: "André can become incredibly outraged when something does not work! Moreover, ...
-
André Rieu What His Wife Reveals About Their Marriage She loves the sound of Waltzes and would dance to the music the rest of...
-
André Rieu: When my wife drags me off the stage, I will stop!! Star violinist André Rieu, tells for the first time frankly about h...
-
" Husband and Wife Having Fun on Stage" Suzan and Mitch in Norway I wrote to Suzan about posting these new pictures of her and Mi...
-
Mirusia’s Wedding Waltz emperor must henceforth share his muse Mirusia Rieu provides his "angel" with a bridegroom. ...
-
Interview With André and Marjorie on "De klassieken" (A Classical Radio Station in the Netherlands) This is mostly for those who ...
-
Son Pierre, The Manager He is the most important man at his father's side - and he has a very remarkable hobby. Bi...
-
André Rieu's Wife Does Not Like To Speak About Herself She Makes An Exception For BILD Stars His Family ... W...
-
Beate has posted this link on the Guestbook, but it will soon get lost off the page there, so I'm adding it here also. Click on the link...
2 comments:
It's quite an article with fun, but at the very end, I confess I almost had my tear roll out as André said he received flowers because there were nice people around, reminds me of what Ineke heard from the Fans Dinner staff, that we had a great atmosphere even though we're from different countries!
Thanks again Sue, and Jann for your wonderful typing. I enjoyed the content of the article too. I only wish the jounos would stop referring to last year's Australian concerts as this year's will be completely different.
But at least there is finally some publicitiy!
Post a Comment