Releases
-
André Rieu
Moonlight Serenade
Classical -
André Rieu
Forever Vienna
Classical -
André Rieu
Live In Australia
Classical -
André Rieu
Live In Vienna
Classical -
André Rieu
Dreaming
Classical -
André Rieu
André Rieu At Schönbrunn, Vienna
Classical
André Rieu
1949 - André is born under the sign of Libra as his parents' third child. His parents and their two young daughters had moved from Amsterdam to Maastricht shortly before. (André later got two brothers and another sister). To the present day, André Rieu has been at home in the beautiful capital of the Dutch Province of Limburg, namely in Maastricht.
1954 - André, his brothers and sisters grow up exclusively with classical music: symphonies, chamber music and opera. Encouraged by his father, a professional conductor, André starts taking violin lessons at the age of five. A.R.: "I had great difficulty concentrating at the start. That was because my violin teacher was so beautiful and so blonde that I fell in love with her and stared at her all the time, instead of listening to her instructions!"
1967 - After leaving grammar school, the talented young man first continues his musical training on the violin at the conservatoire in Liège and later in Maastricht (until 1973).His teachers are Jo Juda and Herman Krebbers.
André Rieu moves to the conservatoire in Brussels, where he receives violin tuition from André Gertier.
1975 - Still a student, André marries his "great love", Marjorie.
1977 - André Rieu concludes his musical training with distinction (Premier Prix) at the conservatoire in Brussels.
1978 - Their first son is born. His name is Marc. In the same year, André Rieu founds his first orchestra, the Maastricht Salon Orchestra, with which he appears in the Netherlands, the Federal Republic of Germany and even the United States. At the same time (until 1989) he is engaged as a violinist in the Limburg Symphony Orchestra.
1981 - André's and Marjorie's second son, Pierre, is born.
1987 - André recruits his Johann Strauss Orchestra. A.R.: "At that time, we rehearsed for 6 months before getting started. There were just twelve musicians in the beginning. Today, there are 43, and sometimes even 50 on very large stages. "In the same year, the new orchestra leader and his wife found the André Rieu Productions company.
1988 - New Year's Day is the big moment: André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra give their first public concert. This is soon followed by brief tours, also through the Benelux countries and the Federal Republic of Germany.
1994 - The "From Holland with Love" album is released in the Netherlands and something happened that no one would have thought possible: "From Holland with Love" triggers a waltz wave in the tiny country.A.R.: "This CD was the definitive breakthrough for me. One of the pieces on it is the "Second Waltz", a beautiful, very melancholy waltz. Really, the piece is called 'Waltz No. 2 from Jazz Suite No. 2' by Dmitry Shostakovich, but itwould probably never have been a hit with a title like that. Marjorie came up with the name 'Second Waltz' at the time, and that's what it became famous as. "From Holland with Love" soon headed the Top 100 in the Netherlands. The album stayed in the Top 10 for more than a year!
1995 - At an international football match in Amsterdam stadium, the smart man from Maastricht fills the half-time interval with the "Second Waltz". The fans in the stands sway in time with the music and hum along enthusiastically, as do the TV viewers. While Ajax eventually wins the match against Bayern München, André Rieu gains thousands of new followers. After an initial concert in Hamburg's Musikhalle and several television appearances, the "From Holland with Love" album is also released in Germany, where it instantly heads for the charts and gets into the Top 5 with ease. It stays for months in the weekly hit list compiled by Media Control and receives several gold and platinum disks.
1996 - André Rieu is dubbed the "Modern King of Waltz" by the media and next launches the "The Vienna I love" and the live "In Concert" albums on the European music market. Again, he can assert himself in the charts in many countries, even against international pop icons like Madonna, for example. A.R. on "The Vienna I Love": "The album 'The Vienna I Love' contains two violin solos that I particularly enjoy playing: the spirited gipsy melody 'Hör ich Zimbalklänge' and the 'Méditation' from the opera Thais by Jules Massenet. I've been playing the latter piece for about 20 years now, but I still find it a fascinating melody. And when I'm on the stage, I can always very clearly sense that it goes straight to the audience's heart as well. Of course, that motivates and inspires me! A.R. on "In Concert": "A live CD is always something very special, I think. You really get to feel the atmosphere that filled the auditorium. 'In Concert' was recorded at the Concertgebouw in Haarlem, a wonderful concert hall with a magnificent audience. Also in 1996, André Rieu received the World Music Award in Monte Carlo.
1997 - A year of hard work: André Rieu has little time for his private life and family, as he is permanently on the road with the Johann Strauss Orchestra. An extensive concert tour takes the charming orchestra leader and his musicians across half of Europe. Still, he takes the time to record "The Christmas I love" and thus fulfill a personal musical wish: "When making this CD, we chose the songs that I've heard at Christmas from my childhood on. They very much remind me of Christmas at home with my parents and of the many, many midnight masses I sang in as a choirboy..."
1998 - On the "Romantic Moments" album, the "King of Waltz" puts the emphasis on dreamy, romantic melodies. The tone is set by the "Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet". In addition, André Rieu this time comes up with classical pieces, such as the "Etude op.10" by Chopin, Mozart's "Adagio" and the melancholy "Far From Home Largo" from the From the New World symphony by Antonín Dvorák.A.R. on "Romantic Moments": This CD is totally different from all the others. I like listening to that kind of music when I have time to dream. Although I lead a fairly hectic life, I'm a romantic person at heart and love peace and quiet. Antonin Dvorak's music really puts me in a happy, contented mood."
1999 - To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Johann Strauss (3 June), André Rieu brings out the "100 Years of Strauss" album. "I have such great admiration for this composer that I simply had to honour him with this album!" Finally, André and his orchestra take their leave of the millennium with the CD entitled "Celebration".
2000 - A.R. on "La vie est belle": Composing is something I've really been doing all my life. As a child, I tried to invent pretty melodies, first for the violin and then also for the piano. This is the first time that I've released a waltz on CD that I composed together with my brother, Jean-Philippe: La vie est belle!"
2001 - First tour in Japan. Construction of our own recording studio - allowing us to produce CDs, videos, DVDs and specials all by ourselves right from the start. The first product made in our own studio, 'Dreaming', proves a great success!
2002 - André's son Pierre joins the business, with responsibility for all technical production aspects of the concerts and recordings. The second product from our own studio, 'Walzertraum' is issued in 7 versions all over the world!2003The tour in Japan is extended to include 17 concerts in 11 different Japanese cities. As André is celebrating 25 years on the stage, an anniversary CD is released in the autumn: Romantic Paradise. To include his fans in the celebrations, André makes Romantic Paradise into a double CD, one of the two CDs being a gift. The CDs are enormously successful. The Romantic Paradise Special is recorded in the Italian town of Cortona. André invites his fans to come from all over the world to attend the recordings for the special - three concerts - all for free! Later in the same year, preparations begin for a tour of the USA and Canada, planned for April/May 2004.2004Early in 2004 the Romantic Paradise Special is nominated for the Rose d'or. In July, André gives a spectacular concert for an audience of 18,000 in the Parkstad Limburg Stadium in Kerkrade. This performance results in a CD and a DVD: The Flying Dutchman.
2005 - After the traditional New Year's Day concert in the Cologne Arena on 1 January and a successful winter tour of Germany, Austria and France, in the spring of 2005 the ‘Flying Dutchman' flies with his orchestra to the USA and Canada for an extensive tour of 19 concerts. After another successful tour, André shakes his home town of Maastricht to its foundations with three fabulous summer concerts on the Vrijthof Square.
A CD and DVD of these concerts will be coming out later on this year.2006The year 2006 began in the traditional way, with a winter tour in Germany. In March, André was touring in France and in April and May he was back in the USA and Canada. The tour included 25 cities, making this the biggest USA/Canada tour ever! In July the brand-new André Rieu office opened in New York. That month also turned out to be the busiest month ever.
In Vienna a fabulous special was recorded on the square in front of Schönbrunn Palace; it turned out to be the biggest production ever undertaken within the André Rieu concern. Within a week André was waltzing his home town of Maastricht off its feet with three midsummer night concerts ending with a special appearance from the Harlem Gospel Choir. One week after that the same choir joined André on the stage in their own home town, New York, where a second special was recorded in the famous Radio City Music Hall. That evening André and his orchestra won the hearts of thousands of Americans in just a few hours, raising the roof of New York's famous theatre.
Both specials appeared on DVD; the new CD reflected the New York special.
2006 - 4 concerts in Tokyo. October, November, December: concerts on the west coast of the USA, in Canada, Germany and Belgium. André Rieu is living up to his nickname of the Flying Dutchman more than ever before!
2007 - A report of the 2006 American tour was broadcast on Dutch television as a series of six programmes from January.
Later these were issued as a DVD entitled ‘André Rieu on his way to New York'. The German TV station ZDF broadcast a musical special: ‘Meine Welt ist die Musik', showing André in Tuscany, Venice, Vienna, Paris and Maastricht. This German musical special came out as a DVD later in the year with the title ‘Romance'. In March André Rieu and his orchestra toured through Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and France, followed by a spring tour through America and Canada. As in previous years, once again André gave a number of summer evening concerts at the Vrijthof square in Maastricht. September saw André Rieu performing with the Harlem Gospel Choir at the Gelredome in Arnhem. A concert at the Efteling amusement park was broadcast in two parts on German and Dutch television. A reality TV show was made about the preparations for this special.
In the autumn André Rieu visited Australia to promote his 2008 concerts, which brought on real Rieu mania: in October André became the first artist in history to have 9 DVDs in the top 10! Next the double CD and DVD ‘In Wonderland' was recorded in the Efteling amusement park. On 14 and 15 December André Rieu performed at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada, the largest indoor stadium in the world, in a Viennese evening set in a reproduction of Vienna's Schönbrunn Palace. This was the kick-off for the big ‘World Stadium Tour: A Romantic Vienna Night'.2008The ambitious tour ‘A Romantic Vienna Night' also drew attention in Europe. Against the background of a life-size reproduction of the imperial Schönbrunn Palace (the largest transportable set in the world!) André Rieu performed with his Johan Strauss Orchestra in Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Amsterdam, Paris and Brussels.
The show also featured artists including the Platinum Tenors, the Vienna State Opera Ballet, 80 Viennese Debutantes, the Empress Sissi and Emperor Franz Joseph in a golden coach and the Vienna Figure Skating Association. In September the entire company together with two castles was flown and shipped across to Australia ready for the concerts there entitled ‘A Romantic Vienna Night'. In March André Rieu set a new record: in Australia the millionth item was sold. Australia was completely under the spell of André Rieu. On 7 April 2008 André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra received a gold Medal of Honour, Maastricht's highest distinction, from Geerd Leers, Mayor of Maastricht.
1954 - André, his brothers and sisters grow up exclusively with classical music: symphonies, chamber music and opera. Encouraged by his father, a professional conductor, André starts taking violin lessons at the age of five. A.R.: "I had great difficulty concentrating at the start. That was because my violin teacher was so beautiful and so blonde that I fell in love with her and stared at her all the time, instead of listening to her instructions!"
1967 - After leaving grammar school, the talented young man first continues his musical training on the violin at the conservatoire in Liège and later in Maastricht (until 1973).His teachers are Jo Juda and Herman Krebbers.
André Rieu moves to the conservatoire in Brussels, where he receives violin tuition from André Gertier.
1975 - Still a student, André marries his "great love", Marjorie.
1977 - André Rieu concludes his musical training with distinction (Premier Prix) at the conservatoire in Brussels.
1978 - Their first son is born. His name is Marc. In the same year, André Rieu founds his first orchestra, the Maastricht Salon Orchestra, with which he appears in the Netherlands, the Federal Republic of Germany and even the United States. At the same time (until 1989) he is engaged as a violinist in the Limburg Symphony Orchestra.
1981 - André's and Marjorie's second son, Pierre, is born.
1987 - André recruits his Johann Strauss Orchestra. A.R.: "At that time, we rehearsed for 6 months before getting started. There were just twelve musicians in the beginning. Today, there are 43, and sometimes even 50 on very large stages. "In the same year, the new orchestra leader and his wife found the André Rieu Productions company.
1988 - New Year's Day is the big moment: André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra give their first public concert. This is soon followed by brief tours, also through the Benelux countries and the Federal Republic of Germany.
1994 - The "From Holland with Love" album is released in the Netherlands and something happened that no one would have thought possible: "From Holland with Love" triggers a waltz wave in the tiny country.A.R.: "This CD was the definitive breakthrough for me. One of the pieces on it is the "Second Waltz", a beautiful, very melancholy waltz. Really, the piece is called 'Waltz No. 2 from Jazz Suite No. 2' by Dmitry Shostakovich, but itwould probably never have been a hit with a title like that. Marjorie came up with the name 'Second Waltz' at the time, and that's what it became famous as. "From Holland with Love" soon headed the Top 100 in the Netherlands. The album stayed in the Top 10 for more than a year!
1995 - At an international football match in Amsterdam stadium, the smart man from Maastricht fills the half-time interval with the "Second Waltz". The fans in the stands sway in time with the music and hum along enthusiastically, as do the TV viewers. While Ajax eventually wins the match against Bayern München, André Rieu gains thousands of new followers. After an initial concert in Hamburg's Musikhalle and several television appearances, the "From Holland with Love" album is also released in Germany, where it instantly heads for the charts and gets into the Top 5 with ease. It stays for months in the weekly hit list compiled by Media Control and receives several gold and platinum disks.
1996 - André Rieu is dubbed the "Modern King of Waltz" by the media and next launches the "The Vienna I love" and the live "In Concert" albums on the European music market. Again, he can assert himself in the charts in many countries, even against international pop icons like Madonna, for example. A.R. on "The Vienna I Love": "The album 'The Vienna I Love' contains two violin solos that I particularly enjoy playing: the spirited gipsy melody 'Hör ich Zimbalklänge' and the 'Méditation' from the opera Thais by Jules Massenet. I've been playing the latter piece for about 20 years now, but I still find it a fascinating melody. And when I'm on the stage, I can always very clearly sense that it goes straight to the audience's heart as well. Of course, that motivates and inspires me! A.R. on "In Concert": "A live CD is always something very special, I think. You really get to feel the atmosphere that filled the auditorium. 'In Concert' was recorded at the Concertgebouw in Haarlem, a wonderful concert hall with a magnificent audience. Also in 1996, André Rieu received the World Music Award in Monte Carlo.
1997 - A year of hard work: André Rieu has little time for his private life and family, as he is permanently on the road with the Johann Strauss Orchestra. An extensive concert tour takes the charming orchestra leader and his musicians across half of Europe. Still, he takes the time to record "The Christmas I love" and thus fulfill a personal musical wish: "When making this CD, we chose the songs that I've heard at Christmas from my childhood on. They very much remind me of Christmas at home with my parents and of the many, many midnight masses I sang in as a choirboy..."
1998 - On the "Romantic Moments" album, the "King of Waltz" puts the emphasis on dreamy, romantic melodies. The tone is set by the "Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet". In addition, André Rieu this time comes up with classical pieces, such as the "Etude op.10" by Chopin, Mozart's "Adagio" and the melancholy "Far From Home Largo" from the From the New World symphony by Antonín Dvorák.A.R. on "Romantic Moments": This CD is totally different from all the others. I like listening to that kind of music when I have time to dream. Although I lead a fairly hectic life, I'm a romantic person at heart and love peace and quiet. Antonin Dvorak's music really puts me in a happy, contented mood."
1999 - To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Johann Strauss (3 June), André Rieu brings out the "100 Years of Strauss" album. "I have such great admiration for this composer that I simply had to honour him with this album!" Finally, André and his orchestra take their leave of the millennium with the CD entitled "Celebration".
2000 - A.R. on "La vie est belle": Composing is something I've really been doing all my life. As a child, I tried to invent pretty melodies, first for the violin and then also for the piano. This is the first time that I've released a waltz on CD that I composed together with my brother, Jean-Philippe: La vie est belle!"
2001 - First tour in Japan. Construction of our own recording studio - allowing us to produce CDs, videos, DVDs and specials all by ourselves right from the start. The first product made in our own studio, 'Dreaming', proves a great success!
2002 - André's son Pierre joins the business, with responsibility for all technical production aspects of the concerts and recordings. The second product from our own studio, 'Walzertraum' is issued in 7 versions all over the world!2003The tour in Japan is extended to include 17 concerts in 11 different Japanese cities. As André is celebrating 25 years on the stage, an anniversary CD is released in the autumn: Romantic Paradise. To include his fans in the celebrations, André makes Romantic Paradise into a double CD, one of the two CDs being a gift. The CDs are enormously successful. The Romantic Paradise Special is recorded in the Italian town of Cortona. André invites his fans to come from all over the world to attend the recordings for the special - three concerts - all for free! Later in the same year, preparations begin for a tour of the USA and Canada, planned for April/May 2004.2004Early in 2004 the Romantic Paradise Special is nominated for the Rose d'or. In July, André gives a spectacular concert for an audience of 18,000 in the Parkstad Limburg Stadium in Kerkrade. This performance results in a CD and a DVD: The Flying Dutchman.
2005 - After the traditional New Year's Day concert in the Cologne Arena on 1 January and a successful winter tour of Germany, Austria and France, in the spring of 2005 the ‘Flying Dutchman' flies with his orchestra to the USA and Canada for an extensive tour of 19 concerts. After another successful tour, André shakes his home town of Maastricht to its foundations with three fabulous summer concerts on the Vrijthof Square.
A CD and DVD of these concerts will be coming out later on this year.2006The year 2006 began in the traditional way, with a winter tour in Germany. In March, André was touring in France and in April and May he was back in the USA and Canada. The tour included 25 cities, making this the biggest USA/Canada tour ever! In July the brand-new André Rieu office opened in New York. That month also turned out to be the busiest month ever.
In Vienna a fabulous special was recorded on the square in front of Schönbrunn Palace; it turned out to be the biggest production ever undertaken within the André Rieu concern. Within a week André was waltzing his home town of Maastricht off its feet with three midsummer night concerts ending with a special appearance from the Harlem Gospel Choir. One week after that the same choir joined André on the stage in their own home town, New York, where a second special was recorded in the famous Radio City Music Hall. That evening André and his orchestra won the hearts of thousands of Americans in just a few hours, raising the roof of New York's famous theatre.
Both specials appeared on DVD; the new CD reflected the New York special.
2006 - 4 concerts in Tokyo. October, November, December: concerts on the west coast of the USA, in Canada, Germany and Belgium. André Rieu is living up to his nickname of the Flying Dutchman more than ever before!
2007 - A report of the 2006 American tour was broadcast on Dutch television as a series of six programmes from January.
Later these were issued as a DVD entitled ‘André Rieu on his way to New York'. The German TV station ZDF broadcast a musical special: ‘Meine Welt ist die Musik', showing André in Tuscany, Venice, Vienna, Paris and Maastricht. This German musical special came out as a DVD later in the year with the title ‘Romance'. In March André Rieu and his orchestra toured through Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and France, followed by a spring tour through America and Canada. As in previous years, once again André gave a number of summer evening concerts at the Vrijthof square in Maastricht. September saw André Rieu performing with the Harlem Gospel Choir at the Gelredome in Arnhem. A concert at the Efteling amusement park was broadcast in two parts on German and Dutch television. A reality TV show was made about the preparations for this special.
In the autumn André Rieu visited Australia to promote his 2008 concerts, which brought on real Rieu mania: in October André became the first artist in history to have 9 DVDs in the top 10! Next the double CD and DVD ‘In Wonderland' was recorded in the Efteling amusement park. On 14 and 15 December André Rieu performed at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada, the largest indoor stadium in the world, in a Viennese evening set in a reproduction of Vienna's Schönbrunn Palace. This was the kick-off for the big ‘World Stadium Tour: A Romantic Vienna Night'.2008The ambitious tour ‘A Romantic Vienna Night' also drew attention in Europe. Against the background of a life-size reproduction of the imperial Schönbrunn Palace (the largest transportable set in the world!) André Rieu performed with his Johan Strauss Orchestra in Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Amsterdam, Paris and Brussels.
The show also featured artists including the Platinum Tenors, the Vienna State Opera Ballet, 80 Viennese Debutantes, the Empress Sissi and Emperor Franz Joseph in a golden coach and the Vienna Figure Skating Association. In September the entire company together with two castles was flown and shipped across to Australia ready for the concerts there entitled ‘A Romantic Vienna Night'. In March André Rieu set a new record: in Australia the millionth item was sold. Australia was completely under the spell of André Rieu. On 7 April 2008 André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra received a gold Medal of Honour, Maastricht's highest distinction, from Geerd Leers, Mayor of Maastricht.
Share this profile
