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André Rieu, "Maybe I'll become Austrian"

André Rieu, "Maybe I'll become Austrian"

"Krone" interview by: Robert Fröwein, "the Crown Newspaper": Star violinist André Rieu published a brand new studio album these last few days titled "Arrivederci Roma" and in May 2016 he will again come back to Austria to perform some selected concerts. We met the Dutchman in his "second home", on the Piazza della Rotonda in Rome for an extensive interview and discovered that even as a world traveler he always feels homesick, he is a big pop fan and is quietly looking around for a permanent place to live in Austria ...

"Krone": André, recently you released your new album "Arrivederci Roma". What special relationship with Italy do you have?
André Rieu: My wife Marjorie and I have been coming here to the Pantheon in Rome continuously for 15 years. For romantic music this city fits that perfectly.

"Krone": You and your wife your 40th anniversary this year.
Rieu: Yes, it is so important to always go back home, to where she is for me. There I receive the strength to travel the world. Without a permanent home, I would be quite lonely.

"Krone": Has your wife has become accustomed to the fact that you are always traveling so much?
Rieu: That was not so easy at first, but after the children were gone, we bought two poodles. She always says, she could not be alone without the dogs. But of course would prefer for me to be home. (laughs)

"Krone": You have a special affinity for Italy, and even released the album "A Night in Venice" last year. Why this country?
Rieu: What kind of question is that. (laughs) The music does come from Italy but - of course also from Austria, but Italy is for me the mother of music. Even the pop from today here is original and so many world hits come from this country. Certain numbers are known from Rome to Lima - that I find fantastic.

"Krone": Italians are also very spirited ...
Rieu: I am that too indeed. (laughs) So I feel quite at home here.

"Krone": Does this temperament help you achieve a good show on stage on bad days?
Rieu: This may sound stupid, but I never have a bad day. But then, only when I'm sick. But even then you have to be on stage - the show must go on and the audience can not notice anything. That I do not feel well or am depressed, it does not matter. It's nice that I can travel around the world together with my orchestra.

"Krone": You also like to show temperament when people come too late to your concert. They are then received with a wink from you. Would you like to elaborate a little bit on that?
Rieu: (laughs) So I like to tease the people a little bit with that. The latecomers are then shown large on the screen and they are all red. Punctuality for me is simply incredibly important. You cannot travel with 110 people around the world, if that does not work. Okay, here in Italy, you can forget about that. (laughs) Here I am but only a guest.

"Krone": Why did you limit yourself to only 16 songs when the "Land of Music" has so many more to offer?
Rieu: My heart always decides. Usually I have 40 songs to choose from, before I record a CD and then it is reduced in a normal fashion. That of course is hard work, but also very rewarding. We then go with the orchestra to the studio, try them out, make trial recordings and when something does not work out the way I had imagined, it is deleted. The rest remains.

"Krone": You have two families. Your orchestra family, with whom you share the stage, and your own family. Is it sometimes difficult to disregard one over the other?
Rieu: No, we have a very nice, precise schedule. We tour only two weeks at a time, except when we go to Australia, because when we go there we already lose three days just getting there. But we usually are there for more than three weeks. Normally after two weeks, we are usually back home. My orchestra members all have children, they should be able to live normally. I myself do not want to live like a gypsy traveling around the world, but also want to have a real life.

"Krone":  In your studio in Maastricht you even built a childcare area for the children of your orchestra members.
Rieu: That's right, I think I am responsible to also care for the children.

"Krone": It is also interesting that you still have your home base in your birthplace of Maastricht. House and Studio are there. If Rome agrees with you so much, why don't you ever want to move here?
Rieu: Because I'm a shitty Dutchman and love my home. (laughs) I have an enormous respect for this city and speak here in their broad dialect, which is nice. I also feel comfortable here, but I am not a Roman. It is magnificent to be here, magnificent to travel the world and even more magnificent to be home again. It balances out.

"Krone": Do you miss your home often on tour?
Rieu: Yes, of course, saying goodbye to my wife, my children and grandchildren is always difficult, but as soon as I am on the bus or plane with the orchestra , everything is forgotten.

"Krone": Have you incorporated both your two sons in your job?
Rieu: No, that went all by itself. My older son is a painter and the younger one is our assistant and works with our entourage. That happened on its own, I never pushed them.

"Krone": You once mentioned that your audience differs from country to country. Do you really notice that?
Rieu: I notice that immediately. Everywhere they are enthusiastic, but with differences. In Mexico, they are really quite crazy, and when I walk out on stage, they cry. The Americans are more reserved and have an attitude like: "Now show us what you really can do." The Japanese are extremely polite, initially I thought that it would not work. But when the balloons came down with the Radetzky March, they freaked out completely. (laughs)

"Krone": Do you sometimes have an audience, with which you do not feel comfortable?
Rieu: I've always said, my music works everywhere and I was right, that is true.

"Krone": What's the reason for that?
Rieu: I think it is the manner in which we play. We play a lot of Strauss waltzes and they are internationally known. I speak a lot in between, announce the numbers and all that probably makes it work.

"Krone": In your musical line of work you have a mix of young and old. This does not occur very frequently.
Rieu: Absolutely, they come from all walks of life to us. From the cleaning lady to the Professor, from children to the pensioners. And I do not make a distinction between the people - we are all equal.

"Krone": You came very late into the pop music. How do you view pop music in comparison to classical? Do you take them both seriously?
Rieu: I definitely make no distinction between the two styles. The classics make the distinction. For me there is only good and bad music. Bruce Springsteen or Madonna made fantastic music, but on the same token Bach also has made some shitty music. Nobody is perfect. It is not automatically good just because it is classical, or automatically bad because it's pop. A stupid attitude.

"Krone": You love to incorporate pop songs in your repertoire, such as Michel Telos' smash hit " Ai Se Eu Te Pego".
Rieu: This song was a big hit in Brazil and we incorporated it into the program because everyone went crazy when we played it. (laughs) The pop song has to be good and successful, before I play it. It just has to makes sense. This song fitted perfectly into the encores, it was the right moment to play it.

"Krone": To what extent do your orchestra members actually have a say? Or does it run a dictatorial way?
Rieu: They have a lot of input, that piece of Teló did not work well, my orchestra brought that to my attention. They gave me a tip and it worked. When I say that I find something shitty although the others do not, then we do not do it, but normally that happens very seldom.

"Krone": Do you enjoy media names such as "Maestro of the masses" or "King of the Crossover"? That you are perceived as a converter of two different spheres?
Rieu: The fact is that I really do not care, I'm also the "Waltz King". I am a bit proud of that title, it is better than not having one. (laughs) You have to just glue to my head what you want - I'll just play on. (laughs)

"Krone": In May 2016 will again come back to Graz, Salzburg and Vienna. But Austria is also indeed a land of music - how does it differ from Italy?
Rieu: Here on the Piazza della Rotonda in Rome, I must say of course that Italy is the land of music. (laughs) So many legends of course come also from Vienna, that's fantastic. I very much like to come to Austria and the audience sucks all the notes out of my violin, that is really something special.

"Krone": Are there also other things that make you particularly happy when you come back to Austria?
Rieu: I am extremely happy here, the country is incredibly beautiful. My wife and I just talked about that yesterday, that we would like to buy a house in a beautiful area in Austria. But we still have so much to do that it makes more sense to simply take a holiday here. But a house on a beautiful place in Austria would be ideal for me. The country is wonderful and the people are all very nice and friendly. Maybe it will still happen. Then I'll become an Austrian. (laughs)

"Krone": Austria was indirectly a part of blackest hour in your career, as the Schönbrunn copy almost drove you directly to the brink of economic ruin a few years ago. Have you been humbled by that in any way?
Rieu: I then promised my wife never to do such a thing again. That was unbelievable and had cost me so much money. On the other hand though, the dilemma had attracted so much worldwide publicity afterwards that all concerts were subsequently sold. When I think about Schönbrunn, two kinds of emotions come up in me. (laughs)

"Krone": Are there after so many successes, awards and experiences still dreams or illusions that you would like to achieve?
Rieu: I would just like to go on like this. Staying healthy, to have energy, making music around the world and making people happy.

"Krone" Surely, you are not usually the person who plans far ahead?
Rieu: Not at all, a maximum of one year in advance. Otherwise, I would feel restricted in my freedom, by no means do I want to be cramped. The world is constantly changing, I do not want to plan ten years in advance. Through the Internet, everything goes much easier today than in the past, I see it as a great advantage.

"Krone": You always would have loved to open a pizzeria in Italy with your wife ...
Rieu: That once was the idea earlier, but now I'm very happy that I am a musician. (laughs) Maybe later, but that's now of course not an issue.

"Krone": Besides Rome do you actually have several other places where you regularly go and feel especially comfortable?
Rieu: Once a year we go to the Black Forest, and we also go often to the Sauerland region, and of course now we want to regularly visit Austria. That's it, other than that I work all the time.

"Krone": Are there still countries or territories where you still desperately want to play?
Rieu: Oh, there are still quite a lot. For example, we have never been to Russia or Mongolia. (laughs) There is still a lot going on, the world is big and luckily we still have a lot of time.

Thank you to Ineke for the article and John Translating it.

Longtime André Fan Laurie Crowley Passes ...

Laurie Crowley 1928 - 2015

(Photo at the MECC in Maastricht)

Yesterday André lost a longtime, true fan ... and we lost a dear friend. Laurie gave countless hours in helping fans through Sonja's Translation Website and later The Harmony Parlor. Her ability to pull dates and information right out of her head was amazing! She was as some of us called her "a walking encyclopedia"! And always willing to help and share her wealth of knowledge of André and Company with all the fans.

To those of us who were lucky enough to know and call her a friend, we will never forget her. Our sympathy goes out to her husband Noel and family. Rest in Peace now Laurie ... 

A Personal note from her son Mike ...

Laurie's family is extremely touched by the loving public tributes to our mother/wife/grandmother from her fellow Andre super-fans. She so enjoyed your friendship and the bond you shared through Andre's music and that of the many talented musicians who perform with him. Thank you for helping to bring so much joy into her life. 

Laurie, Noel, Sonja and Maggie

►Click HERE To Read Laurie's Obituary
(Details of the funeral are on the Guestbook)

André Rieu, Fit As a Fiddle

André Rieu, Fit As a Fiddle

From AD.nl (Algemeen Dagblad) by Arno Gelder: It's the week of André Rieu. Friday-November 13, 2015 his new album "Arrivederci Roma" and his DVD "Wonderful World", the recording of the Vrijthof concerts last summer will be released. Moreover, the violinist performs in the Gelredome in Arnhem on Saturday. And we thought that André was going to take it a little easier.

André Rieu lays flowers in Bucharest

His tears were sincere and bitter - not the fake ones which stars tend to shed when they know that cameras are oriented on them. Whoever knows André Rieu (66) knows, that he - the main exporter of music of Dutch origin in the world - does not need to generate publicity at the expense of an intense grieving population. Last weekend André Rieu flew to Bucharest to especially help the Romanians in their grief over the now 47 fatalities who died in a nightclub fire.

"In June my orchestra and I were so amazingly received in Romania ... I considered it my solemn duty to express my condolences. To lay flowers at the site of the disaster and to light a candle. And yes, I burst into tears. The grief overwhelmed me."

But André Rieu, who will be donating the proceeds from the DVD recording of his Romanian concerts to the relatives of the perished, must go on. Saturday the violinist/conductor conducts a concert in the Arnhem Gelredome - and Friday the " Arrivederci Roma" CD and the "Wonderful World" DVD, a recording of the traditional appearances of Rieu on the Vrijthof in Maastricht, will be released.

And we thought that you would take it easier ...

André Rieu: "Oh, but I do take myself into account. Look, up until you are 40, everything goes fine; working hard, long and late nights. Between your 40th and 60th it is starting to creek and peep a little and from 60 on, you have to watch yourself, especially when you travel all over the whole world."

"I exercise three times a week. My trainer puts down a mat, and I go to work. Push-ups, recovering. Really intensive. Yummy? Nah, I can tell you what I like, but they are not these workouts. Yet they are necessary. Twice as you know, I have been downed due to stress. The first time I was out of circulation for three months , but all salaries still had to be paid. My account showed large deficits. When it happened to me the second time - in bed where everything again spun before my eyes - I told myself: "Never again. Now I'm fit as a fiddle. But I have to maintain that."

Your new album is an ode to Italy, especially the capital.
"We love Rome. We go there every year with the entire family for our traditional three days. Also for the music, of course. Every time I am again fascinated by Rome. What the Romans accomplished 2000 years ago without computers, mobile phones and hydraulic equipment, is phenomenal".

"The Coliseum was built in four years. Well I do know that the Roman Empire was soaked in blood, but still ... Freek de Jonge once said: "The Delta Works are the last major thing the Dutch have achieved." And that's true. Let's take the ancient Romans as an example. We complain ourselves silly about our traffic jams, but do not do a thing about it. Could we not collectively put our shoulders to the grind stone"?

"I did it with the copy of Schönbrunn Palace. Unprecedented. I decided to stick 34 million into that dream. A huge irritancy to the bank. I suffered a phenomenal loss and did stick my neck out. By the way the finances are now entirely back in order again."

You just returned from South America and will soon travel to Britain and Ireland for an extensive tour. Are you ever at home anymore? With the holidays for example?

"Yeah, I try that as much as possible. Ivan and Fleur, Marc's children are now six and five, they expect another child in January. Pierre's twins, Linde and Lieke, are 6. They looked at the Sinterklaas Journal for the first time. With real black Peters, yes of course."

"I really hope that lady of the United Nations, who is so concerned about our wonderful Sinterklaas tradition, focuses on something else. Like for example, ISIS!! Come on now, there is not a more tolerant country than the Netherlands. We even pay for the mosques here. Try and build a church in Mecca. For me, Peter needs to remain just black."

Are you now carefully practicing your poetry?
"Really, I cannot do that. I'm stuck with 'poop' and 'doorstep'. " But a successful surprise will still happen. What did I do last year? Phew, let me think. Oh dear, I was not here then. I was in Dublin with the orchestra."

Do you still want to go the moon with the Johann Strauss Orchestra, as you once suggested?
"I'm waiting for the moment that Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin Group will build his hotel there. He promised me. "But I still have a lot of aspirations here on earth. Would still like to conquer the United States. I've been there several times, but now I would like to gain a sure footing there. It is a difficult audience, though. "Show us," they say there. They are incredibly spoiled. By the way, where are you from? Holland? Is that next to Denmark? They have no idea. They also want me to play American music, but I remain faithful to the waltz."

Do your grandchildren know that they have a famous grandfather?
"It is now dawning on them. But a famous grandfather? I am just an ordinary grandfather who loves his grandchildren. Pierre lives right around the corner from me, and he calls me "the stalker", because so often I come by just for the children".

"Marc and Pierre know that Marjorie and I are not babysitting grandparents. Our lives are too irregular. But when I'm in Mexico, I am definitely on Skype. And I always bring gifts from overseas. But now you notice that they have dates with their friends and Marjorie and I have become less important, until they are 17. Then it will be: "Grandpa, we're going on a weekend trip to Berlin. Can we borrow your car? " And of course they will get to use it."

Thanks to Ineke for the article and John for Translating it.

René Henkett's Trumpet Collection

Instrument Collection

Does Lidl Deal in Trumpets?

Trumpeter René Henket from Vaesrade has been traveling with André Rieu since the very beginning of the Salon Orchestra. He possesses a large collection of trumpets, and during his concert travels with the Strauss orchestra he searches for local trumpet methods. "I will never sell another trumpet."

By: Jan Cuijpers, the Limburger - While sitting in front of two cabinets full of trumpets, René Henkett (47) talks only about his passion for teaching. His elaborate trumpet collection - the reason for this story - only becomes the main subject when asked about it. Already in the living room he enthusiastically started talking about a new aid in teaching: a mouthpiece with a built-in small camera. Until now a trumpet teacher resorted to using a nozzle without a cup, or a transparent mouthpiece (approximate) to see what happens in the nozzle, but now the lip movements can be followed throughout the playing, being recorded and replayed in slow motion on the computer. That way you can very quickly identify and correct problems you have with the mouthpiece, according to the enthusiastic André Rieu trumpeter. The walls of his classroom and annex rehearsal hall in the long garden behind his duplex in Vaesrade are covered with posters about mouthpiece problems and how to solve them. "Teaching is one of my passions. Currently I have a few students, and some advanced trumpet players who come by once every so many weeks. But I am already thinking about the next time." That is why it is not strange that Henket goes and searches for local teaching methods in all the countries he visits. He opens a drawer filled with lesson materials and shows a method as an example from East Germany. " And in the attic I have cabinets full" according to the music school graduated trumpeter. "On tour I develop lesson materials. For instance how you can continue on playing with braces. Very often you see students drop out the moment they get braces. As far as I am concerned that is totally not necessary when you have adapted lesson materials which still challenges the student. And so I would like to develop a path for each individual student."

Another item he has many drawers full of are mouth pieces. For a very long time he had a phobia about mouth pieces Henket says. That led to his father, a very talented bench worker, changing mouthpieces from brand "A" to René's favorite brand "B". His quest to an ideal combination provided him with a huge collection. "My colleague Roger Diederen eventually helped me get over my mouth piece phobia. He could not understand me in that at all. "Just take a mouthpiece and start playing" he always told me. I have taken that over from him." In the rehearsal hall Henket's two passions flow perfectly together. Besides teaching there is his collection of dozens of trumpets. "Occupational hazard" he calls it. "Once I sold an American 'Bach Lightweight'. I felt very sorry about that, and decided never again to sell a trumpet. Indeed, he not only keeps the trumpets which he acquires to play on professionally in his possession, but he regularly buys a rare specimen. He reaches into the cabinet: "This is a 'Monke' a three generations old Cologne trumpet builder, serial number 29, built by founder Joseph Monke himself. Bought in a flea market in Belgium for 75 Euro's. For 1000 Euro's I had the instrument refurbished and currently I am offered large sums of money for it, primarily by German Orchestras." Another noteworthy instrument from his collection is a 'piccolo trumpet' which used to belonged to Maurice André. "Maurice André is the king of the trumpets as far as I am concerned. I basically have all his things. My first teacher, Pierre Wilhelmus was one of André's students. That is how I acquired the piccolo." Also of interest is a C-trumpet by Schille, of which only three were ever made. And then there is also a sort of cornet. Not with valves, but with holes.

With a small camera in the tip you can quickly detect problems in the mouthpiece

Laughingly he says: "Those are baroque trumpets. Five years ago I needed a new challenge. I have always had an interest in baroque trumpets. I found out that just across the border, in Herzogenrath, a baroque trumpet builder lived there: Marcus Lechter. And through him I again came in contact with Anna Freeman, who taught at the conservatorium in Cologne. She lives in Aachen and I take lessons from her, just for myself and not for professional gains - although playing the baroque trumpet does help me in my current trumpet playing." Dozens of trumpets line the cabinet. One, on the top shelve lies down, too big to stand up. "That is a base trumpet from Brno in the Czech Republic. A Fan-tas-tich instrument" according to the lyrical Henket. The non expert is unlikely to buy that instrument. In large letters 'LIDL' is reflected on the bell ...

 Thanks to John for this and it's Translation.