The Stand-Alone Violinist Divided By Five

The Stand-Alone Violinist Divided By Five

Yesterday at the Cultural exhibition (Parcours)there was a first: the revival of André Rieu's Maastricht Salon Orchestra. A magical crowning at the opening of Maastricht's Cultural season.

Maastricht by Vikkie Bartolomeus: The original scores had to be restored. And the rest from the time of the 'heringenbieteconcerts" (herring bites/eating concert) has been kept as original as possible: the clothing, the setting and the famous Toselli Serenade. André Rieu was the only one absent at the revival of his own 'Maastricht Salon Orchestra'. Well, in the back ground he was more than present, and later on will be directing. "The only thing he does not do, is play along. He says, "I am too old for that and besides I do not have the time." Frank Steijns is one of the five members from André Rieu's Orchestra performing in the new Salon Orchestra. Almost forty years later Rieu gave new life to this chamber music ensemble. Steijns says, "With the big concerts, we see André's enthusiasm, now we need to do that with the five of us. That is a totally different way of making music. The five of us went into quarantine until we had the proper sound."

The idea of a revival of the Salon Orchestra came about after a small delegation of the Rieu Orchestra had performed for some foreign guests. It was an immediate hit. The music is André's, it is under his direction, and we will not imitate him."

Frank Steijns plays the piano and does the presentations, Roland Lafosse plays contra bass, Cord Meyer second violin, Tanja Derwahl cello and Gosia Loboda has the difficult task of trying to approach Rieu's violin playing. "The stand-alone violinist is being divided. Actually André is being split into five pieces." Could the Salon Orchestra be a forerunner of Rieu's eventual retirement? Steijns laughs, "No, André always says that he will live to be 120. And performances with the Rieu Orchestra have priority."

There was a huge crown at the Parcours. At more than thirty places in the city center the public could get a taste of the exhibitions participating in the new cultural season.

"A mix of tradition and newness. That is why I am so thrilled that André Rieu awarded us with this event. I never expected it would be so busy" said Tom Berghmans, member of the city center management.

Thank You to John for the article and translation of it.