Mirusia Louwerse ~ Aussie Gal Made Good

Aussie Gal Made Good

MIRUSIA ‘ALWAYS AND FOREVER’

September 30, 2010 The story of Australian Mirusia Louwerse’s discovery by André Rieu is the stuff of “dreams come true”. With Dutch parents but born and raised in Brisbane, the 25 year old’s graceful stage presence and effortless soprano voice belies her age. André Rieu is besieged with demos from all and sundry. As the maestro himself puts it “I get plenty of emails every day from people telling me that their daughter sings so beautifully or their son is such a wonderful trumpet player…” and, as it happened, one such missive came from Mirusia’s aunt in December 2007. Ever diligent, André went onto Mirusia’s website and, suitably impressed with what he heard, called her.

After Mirusia initially dismissed André as a prank caller, Mirusia put down the receiver and packed her bags. She was off to audition for André the very next day. The meeting was a success. “It was unbelievable, I left Maastricht with a contract”, she says, still laughing at the shock of it.

Always & Forever, Mirusia’s first solo album, is a story in 14 songs of the musical experiences Mirusia has enjoyed on stage and in the studio with André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra. It features performances of favourites like Schubert’s Ave Maria, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Memory (Cats) and Wishing you were somehow here again (The Phantom of the Opera), as well as the breathtaking Concerto pour une voix from one-hit wonder Saint-Prieux, rediscovered by Rieu, and a tribute to her homeland Australia, by way of Botany Bay.

To see Mirusia talk about Always & Forever and for a glimpse of the some of the albums filmclips, go to ►www.getmusic.com.au/mirusia/videos . Mirusia sings in six different languages on Always & Forever (English, German, Latin, French, Italian, Norwegian) and has also recorded two duets with her friend, collaborator and co-soloist with André Rieu, Carmen Monarcha (Plaisir d’amour and Send in the clowns).

This isn’t the first time that Mirusia has been on a recording however, André Rieu’s album “Waltzing Matilda”, which heavily featured Mirusia, was released in 2008 and went Platinum in 10 days and spent three weeks at No.1 on the ARIA album charts, beating new albums from Madonna and Australian Idol winner Damien Leith. What’s more, it was the first time in André’s 30-year recording history that a soloist shared the cover with him.

For the past three years, the world has been Mirusia’s stage, but it wasn’t as if she hadn’t met with success in the years leading up to the audition with André Rieu. She started her vocal life in Brisbane as a country singer, then moved on to jazz, then to musicals. The sheer beauty of her singing got her a place at the Brisbane Conservatorium where her vocal studies embraced opera, and her performances led to her winning prizes at a variety of Australian competitions. Then, in 2006, she won the Dame Joan Sutherland Opera Award – the youngest ever winner of this prestigious competition, that same year going on to win many a scholarship for her outstanding recital work ... Mirusia's new CD "Always and Forever" will be released October 8, 2010