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.