Overworked André Rieu

Overworked André Rieu

Maastricht, March 15, 2012:
Overworked André Rieu is at least for yet another month out of circulation. His battery is empty.

The violin virtuoso, who has already been home ill for a month and a half, is overworked, according to his son Pierre. "All the hectic events around concerts and other obligations became a bit too much. What first seemed to be a lingering flu, now in reality appeared to be a burnout. 

The world famous waltz specialist is very optimistic about his recovery, ensures André Rieu's son Pierre. But it will be at least another month before he again will be on stage anywhere with bow and violin. The management of the popular Limburg musician has kept very quiet during the recent weeks about André Rieu's health status. But yesterday his son Pierre added for the first time a name to his father's mysterious illness. The reality is that André is overworked. 

In other words, he is over exerted or as it is called nowadays, he suffers from burn-out. He has taken on too much. And apparently he is now physically and mentally being "punished" for a hectic lifestyle, which apparently has not affected him for many years. 

The first symptoms of André Rieu's illness appeared in January 2012, when he was downed with the flu and a virus infection which had a side effect that caused the violinist to also suffer from dizziness. "It was the same identical dizziness which caused my father to out of circulation for two month towards the end of 2010. Apparently, that has remained a weak spot in his body. Remarkably, this time, the symptoms did not disappear after some rest and medication. So the diagnosis was declared as being "overworked", says Pierre frankly. 

In the case of my father this overexertion shows up as fatigue, dizziness and sometimes a somewhat somber mood. No, André Rieu is not mentally unstable and does not suffer from crying spells. Fortunately it has not gone that far with my father. His battery is rather low. I feared that last year already when I saw him working day and night on the new Christmas special. 

This project has messed him up. Immediately after having finished the recordings, when it became clear that André Rieu was overworked, his management canceled all appointments from his busy schedule for the next few weeks. Pierre: The inserted rest did my father a lot of good. But the adverse effect on the recovery process is the fact that every day without work will cost André Rieu a fortune, due to missed concert earnings. He employs 120 persons, Orchestra members and other personnel need their salaries. The entire company is built around one person: André Rieu. If he cannot work due to illness, the financial flow dries up and my father eats into his reserves. The entire situation cannot last too long since he does not have insurance for being out of work, thereby keeping his reserves intact. Because of that, my father is currently and continuously under great stress, while right now he desperately needs his rest.  

If all goes well, André Rieu will perform his first concert again on April 20th in Denmark. Son Pierre emphasizes that up until that time, he has to take it easy. "My father does not spend the entire day sleeping and grumbling around in his bed. He's just quietly relaxing in and around his house. He practices in his studio, simply because making music gives him a lot of energy. He takes walks, does fun things with his wife, sons, their entourage, and the grandchildren. He enjoys that very much. Dad is also dieting, since he has gained some weight recently. With fitness training he is trying improve his condition and stay fit.  

After his recovery a series of already planned and a few catch-up concerts await André Rieu. "Busy times are again ahead. But we are going to set up his agenda differently from now on. Especially the number of ancillary activities such as interviews and promotional events will be greatly minimized. André Rieu will do everything to protect himself against a possible relapse. He feels he is making progress, one step at a time. That makes him optimistic. He firmly believes everything is going in the right direction." 

Thanks to Ineke and John for Translating this for us