André Rieu
Biography
Dubbed the ‘Modern King of Waltz’ by the media, André Rieu has renewed interest in waltz music and superseded pop artists in pop music charts.
André and his five siblings were surrounded by classical music throughout their childhood in Maastricht, Holland. Their father, a professional conductor, encouraged André to take up violin lessons at the age of five.
After leaving school, André continued his musical training at conservatoires in Liège, Maastricht and Brussels, where he gained the Premier Prix.
André founded his first orchestra in 1978, the Maastricht Salon Orchestra. Nine years later, he directed the first rehearsals of the Johann Strauss Orchestra, at that time just 12-strong.
Music
The Johann Strauss Orchestra has grown from strength to strength and now has up to 50 players. The orchestra’s first CD, ‘From Holland with Love’ in 1994 stayed in the Top 10 chart in the Netherlands for over a year, and the German Top 5 for months.
In 2001 the André Rieu Productions Company founded a record label, on which the Orchestra’s CDs and DVDs now appear exclusively. The Orchestra has performed in venues as diverse as football stadiums, theme parks, outside of palaces and in Radio City Music Hall, New York, and given hugely successful tours worldwide, including in the USA, Japan and France.
The Orchestra’s latest release, 'Forever Vienna' is a double album featuring well-known classics like The Blue Danube, Vienna Blood and Radetzky March. It has been number one in the Official Classic FM Chart since the beginning of the year.
André Rieu spoke to Mark Forrest on The Magazine Show in January about his album ‘Forever Vienna’ and why he needs a team of 500 people working with him to transport a Viennese palace around to every gig...
The sensational violinist has been confirmed as one of the star performers at the Classical BRIT Awards in May. For a sneaky peek of what you can look forward to, watch this live footage of André Rieu live in Vienna:
Watch more videos of André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra on YouTube .
André Rieu News
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Classical BRITs PerformersDutch violinist André Rieu and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa confirmed to perform at this year's Classical BRITs.
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André Rieu at number 2 in pop chartsViolinist André Rieu has become the first classical instrumentalist to reach number two in the pop album charts with…
