André Rieu's Live Radio Interviews in Australia

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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.