André Rieu Chapeau Magazine - March/April 2013

ONE IDEA LEADS TO ANOTHER

Chapeau Magazine March/April: Sometimes I am still surprised by how many new ideas bubble up to the surface for the picking, and how certain developments can be interfaced. The trick is to choose those which are the best for us and the audience.

Ever since our successful concerts in England, this country seems to be upside down, at least for us. The British TV station "SKY-TV" has been working with me on an entire series and at a certain point the idea arose for me to make music every time with a different singer. Well, the Vrijthof concerts are the ideal place for that. And there we would also like to make the recordings. And then later in the year a special CD and DVD will be released. SKY-TV’s idea fits closely to a thought I had years ago - even before the first Vrijthof concerts - to try and give a concert in the manner of "André Rieu and friends". Back then Luciano Pavarotti did that too in his hometown. I considered that to be a very nice initiative, something really special.

This idea stayed on the back burner with us since we were busy with so many other projects, but since SKY-TV proposed it, this would be excellent to combine it with our previous thoughts. And so you see, it is all about bringing it all together, and together you produce something special.

The project is now well under way. SKY-TV is busy with the preparations and in the meantime we have had our first "friend" in the studio. To start with, Jermaine Jackson, and his visit was very special. He is the brother of the phenomenal Michael Jackson who we commemorated shortly after his death on the Vrijthof with the songs "Ben" and "the Earth Song". We showed Jermaine images of the Vrijthof and he was visibly moved by them. We quickly established a bond and it is going to be beautiful musical teamwork. He will probably be performing with us one of the evenings in Maastricht. In the meantime, Trini Lopez has also already been to our studio. Formerly known for his "If I had a Hammer" and "La Bamba". Very festive music, I can already visualize everything in front of me with a swinging Vrijthof.

What we are further going to be doing on the Vrijthof will remain a surprise. In any case, we are very busy with the preparations, and they will definitely again be wonderful evenings, I know that for a fact! The nice thing is that the audience will come from around the world to the concerts. That makes the evenings very special. And the entire orchestra always looks forward to that, since it is always very special for them to perform on the Vrijthof.

In the beginning of the year we recorded a new CD, consisting only of very romantic music under the title of "Music of the Night" With our own arrangements of pieces like "La Vie en Rose" by Edith Piaf, "When Winter Comes" and "I had a Dream" by ABBA, "One Hand, One Heart" from West side story and a beautiful melody by Sebelius, very melancholic and heart wrenching. As a bonus "Ben", recorded live on the Vrijthof one week after the death of Michael Jackson. This CD will be available later in the year. Lovely music for a romantic winter evening by candle light and a glass of wine.

But let’s not think about that yet, since we first hope for a sunny summer with cozy concerts on the Vrijthof. In the spring we will visit North America, Brazil, Chile, Denmark and Vienna.

Is that not going to be too much, I hear you say? Of course it is a lot, but I can handle it now much better since I have been working-out a lot. Especially the power lifting, that really suits me, it makes me stronger and fitter, it's like I'm ten years younger. I can really recommend it to everyone, it gives so much energy. I recently broke my own "deadlift" record: 110 kilos (242lbs)! I am very proud of that and it means that I can now lift my entire orchestra. One at a time of course ...

André Rieu

 Thanks to Ineke for sending this and John for Translating it.