André Rieu Amasses 55 Million Dollars

"Maastricht Dichtbij" December 29, 2012 by Peter Eberson

MAASTRICHT: André Rieu is one of the 15 world renowned artists who with the proceeds of tickets sales for the 2012 concerts amassed more than 50 million dollars. Last year Rieu did slightly better than Jennifer Lopez ($ 52.6 million in revenue) but had to let Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay and Elton John go ahead of him in the top 15. 

Rieu earned $ 55.6 million this year with his concerts, which included the Vrijthof concerts in Maastricht. Converted that is about 42 million Euro's. With that he earned place number 12 in the top 50 which is compiled yearly by Pollstar. This company compiles a list of the big-earning artists worldwide.

Thanks to Ineke for sending this and John Translating it. 

New interview ( December 25, 12) on our website ►www.andrerieu-movies.com L1mbourgeois from L1 television with subtitles. Enjoy! ... Ineke and Ruud

André Rieu The 63 Year Old Heart Throb!

The hot flush heart-throb! He's the 63-year-old violinist who (for ladies of a certain age) is bigger than Robbie Williams and One Direction put together. 

He is well and truly catnip to thousands of women who perhaps have only a feline to love. But it’s the moment after the first few bars of The Blue Danube that the scene suddenly moves me, and I finally get what André Rieu is all about. 

All around the auditorium, people are getting up, clutching their husbands or, more often, the woman who has been their best friend since school, and they are in the aisles waltzing. They forget about the timer for the heating, their pension, their losses and the prospect of a care home and they lose themselves in twirling.

►Click HERE To Read The FULL Article 

 Thank You to Margaret for sending the link to the article!

"LINDA" Interview With André Rieu

"LINDA" Interview With André Rieu

►December 20, 2012, Jojanneke van den Bergen: You seem so friendly André, a nice cozy Limburger, but with the photo shoot you were rather cool towards the team. "I do not like that" you said right away. The stylist was not allowed to touch your clothing.
André Rieu: I do not like to be photographed. All those people picking at you, who find that so important, Horrible."

►That seems awkward for a world star, a pop star if you may, a classical musician, named our best export product after Johan Cruyff (Dutch soccer star)
"That is true. Just cannot handle that. I much rather have them take photos while I am busy. Just let me be on the stage with my public, let me entertain the people, that’s what I like."

►Are you adverse to glamour?
"Absolutely. Prestigious award presentations, gala’s, red carpet affairs, photo shoots….dreadful. All that preparing, to sit around and wait all day, to look important. It is so orchestrated and played out. At the World Music awards in Monaco, I experienced Michael Jackson and Diana Ross arguing over who had the better VIP parking place in the garage, and who was allowed to sit closest to Prince Albert. Oh gee holy c…p, I then think. That’s when I crawl into my shell and would much rather go back to my orchestra, or go home. I would much rather go shopping. When I return from a tour and we land in Frankfurt at six in the morning, I am home in Maastricht by eight. The stores have just opened, and I go shopping. I think that’s class.

►That’s class?
Class in a Limburg kind of way. When we say class, it means it is just nice. 

►Do you become cross with too much attention?
"I find it one of the annoying aspects of this life. Most people, who recognize me, give me a friendly nod or they say: Mr. Rieu, I so enjoy your work. That is nice. But some people think that you are their property. I get the same feeling from a stylist, although she does not mean it."

►Quite remarkable. You do not enjoy glamour, yet you live in a castle with a butterfly garden. You live in a fairytale world. "Yes, of course. When I was younger, I always read Tin-tin. At a certain point, Captain Haddock buys a castle. You then see him walking around, totally happy. I thought: I would like that too."

►What sort of feeling does that give you? Being able to buy a castle?
"That was very nice. Gratifying. I have totally fixed it up until it looked like Captain Haddock’s. Just like when I used to dream about it."

►Do you believe in those sorts of things? That something can become a reality when you think very hard about: this is what I want?
"Yes, for sure. If you really want it. It went that way with my music too. My father was a conductor and from an early age on I thought: "There is something wrong with classical music. It is very nice, but the manner in which it is presented is so boring, so wrong….elitist. It is shackled. For instance, you are not allowed to play just a part of "La Traviata", you have to play it entirely. That is something I do not like. I often saw people technically make wonderful music, but it did absolutely nothing for me. I resolved to change some of that."

►At the conservatory you were not happy having to play certain pieces.
"And even when I was with an orchestra. And I was not the only one either. I think you can find a lot of victims in the world of classical music. I once watched a documentary about the people in the Berlin philharmonic. They were on a six week’s tour in Japan and every evening they had to play Wagner’s operas. After four weeks they experienced psychological problems. Really."

►What do you mean by victims?
Yes, I compare it with what also happens in top sports. Tennis as a for instance. Children who have been forced by their parents to play. Look what happened to André Agassi. The same happens in the music world. I used to see musicians who came visiting my father at home. They were often in bad shape. Sad…They dejectedly trudged around with their violin or cello, which was often carried by their wives. Moreover."

►Was that expected?
"Yes……I do not know why. Anyway, I am surprised how many men secretly think about women. I have friends, very intelligent men, who after they have had a few glasses of wine say horrible things about women. It then seems to be in the middle ages. I never had those kinds of ideas. I always wanted to marry someone with whom I could work together, who was on the same level as I. And that is what I did. Marjorie and I have now already been together for 37 years."

►You receive a gigantic amount of bad criticism.
"My public can never restrain itself. They sway happily along, but there is always someone not moving: that is the critic. At one of the AVRO programs (Television Company) I saw a lady with a crappy hair band. She said aggrieved (with a posh accent): "I always used to go to the museum, but the last years I have to wait in line, apparently because another sort people now also visit the museum. In other words, she can no longer feel superior by going to the museum since the masses also go there. And that is the same with classical music."

►Is it a crutch for the elite to feel themselves exalted?
"Yes, so you can tell your friends: "I have season tickets for the Concert building orchestra." My public consists of another type of people. People who wear their hearts on their sleeves, who don’t really care whether a music piece is presented in "fortepiano" or "fortissimo". They just want to have a nice evening. They want to be entertained, to be brought to tears or laughter. For that I use classical music as a tool, and make it accessible to the masses. And with that I make an enormous amount of people happy."

►Your breakthrough in 1995 came totally out of nowhere. All of the sudden you were being heard all over with "The Second Waltz". My mother, who has a ballet school, even uses your hit to dance with her little ones.
"Ha, yes, but Marjorie and I had to peddle our little suitcase with music in Hilversum for seven years. There they continued to tell us: "Just return quickly to the south with your waltzes. Later on these people were all let go. Funny, he? Until finally there was just one man who gave us a chance. In a year I sold 850,000 CD’s. That man was Herman van Zwan, now employed by Universal."

►Yet many people understand the woes of your success In the Netherlands it is usually not "cool" to enjoy André Rieu, there is something kitschy, corny about that.
"There is here a limit in finding me enjoyable. Maybe due to my waltz etiquette, while I do play other music. Most people need to have seen one of my performances first, before they understand it all."

►Don’t you find that frustrating?
"A TV program sends a reporter to a renowned concert hall and let twenty people through headphones listen to classical music. Oh nice, they all said. What was that? When they heard that it was Andre Rieu, they were appalled. I do not care for that at all."

►I do not think that you are quite indifferent about it.
"Now, well, OK, I am not totally indifferent about it. It is plain elite snobbery. "My grandmother lived with us and she could only enjoy music if she knew who was playing. I always told her: "Just listen to the music, Oma."

►You are more appreciated abroad. You are hugely popular in unlikely countries like Brazil and Mexico.
"And with the Eskimos."

►You do have an awkward name for an international star.
"For sure. It becomes Rieaiieaiieaiiiii."
►You were talking about parents who force their children. From the age of five you were forced to play violin by your father.
"My brothers and sisters too. I thought that was normal. In kindergarten I asked the other children what kind of violin they had. Later on I discovered that there were also normal people walking around. At our house, at least I felt so, it was impossible to say: "That shitty music – sorry about that word – I do not like." I would much rather play outside than study the violin."

►Did it feel like coercion?
"Yes, it was. Back then I found it to be very bad what my father did. I fabricated all sorts of excuses, or hid my violin booklets. But they were always found again."

►Had your father not been a musician, would you have become what you are today?
"I would not know."

►What did your father think of your approach?
"He did not raise me to play waltzes. Before my breakthrough I had a small salon orchestra: with which I played at small festivities and parties. I learned a lot from that; how to arrange for parties. Even lawyers came to me for that. He found it appalling. That was not the intention."

►Would he have rather seen you ...
"How should I know, my occupation is in arts with a capital "A". He died just before my great breakthrough."

►He never experienced your success. Is that difficult for you?
"I never had a close bond with my father. I don’t know whether we now, afterwards --- actually it does not interest me."

►It could also be giving you satisfaction. A sense of see….
"There are a lot of people who say that I work so hard to impress my late father. I don't believe that."

►But you still get emotional when you talk about your father.
"When I see a film about a difficult relationship between a father and a son that does something to me. Then I am touched to tears, certainly when everything turns out well. So I think ... there must be something ... that's true."

►Is your violin sacred? How do you handle it?
"Just normal, like a "thing"."

►It is not in a secure with diamond studded showcase?
"It is a Stradivarius from 1732. Almost 300 years old, worth a few million, but it is just in my study. On tour I have someone who carries and cares for it."

►Not a woman, André?
"No, oh no, a man, for sure."

►Do you talk to your violin?
"No, because it does not answer. We have a hate-love relationship. When I have to practice with it for hours, really do those shitty exercises – oh, there is that word again -- to train my fingers, then brrrrr...."

►I had the same feeling when I wanted to become a dancer at the dance academy. Training so hard, is heavy. The real joy comes on stage.
"Exactly. Although for me it is never really fully enjoyable. I am seldom completely satisfied."

►Do you think you're good?
"There are people who play much better than I. They study all day; they have as far as I know all their concerts lined up. But I can touch people with my violin playing. It's very schizophrenic. I have to open myself up on stage but at the same time I have to be very tough. There you have to deliver. Not yesterday, not tomorrow. Sometimes I think: "I wished I had been a gardener". Don’t you ever experience that, right before you have something to do on TV?" 

►Sure. Then you ask yourself: "Why am I doing this to myself"? That continuous delivering became too much for you at a certain time. You experienced two serious burn-outs, shortly after each other.
"Literally I gave too much. Too much for my fans, I spent too much money. I experienced weird disorders, like an infection on my equilibrium. In February I carefully started working out. Working out means you are busy with yourself and no one else. I eat healthier. I lost 12 kilos ( 26 lbs)."

►Did it change you?
"Because it happened for the second time I really had to turn around. Now I set my limits sooner."

►Do you still have huge dreams which have to become a reality?
"Just to continue on like this. Till I drop dead, of old age of course. "

►Would you like to die on stage?
"No, just in my bed, during my sleep."

►You have beautiful hair, which is cared for by your own hairstylist. Is your hair your most important asset?
"No."

►André with a crew cut would be a totally different sight.
"Ha, but my face is more important. That says everything. Your face tells me everything too. You are open, spontaneous. When I saw that, I knew that we could be playful during the photo shoot."

►Your wife Marjorie remains conscientiously outside the publicity.
"Yes, that is a conscious choice. We receive the weirdest offers. Paris Match says: "You'll get the cover plus twenty pages if you do an article together with your wife". We won’t do that. She wants to lead her own life."

►Do you adore her?
"I think I drew a winning ticket from the lottery. I have known her from the age of 11. Marjorie was 13 and my sister's friend. She was always remained in my mind. While I was studying at the conservatory she came by and visited me one day and then the sparks flew. First we wrote letters for six weeks."

►Weren't you through an error in the universe born in the wrong time?
I hear that often. I love iPhones and modern gadgets, but the romance of earlier times I find wonderful. When I am on tour, there are days when Marjorie and I only just write to each
other. Well yes, I mean by mail, but with long and beautiful sentences. You can display your feelings better in written texts."

►Do you love to withdraw in a fairytale world?
"I love fairy tales, for sure. With my grandchildren I can revel in fantasy about pirates. I love that. Thinking things up. Making things more beautiful than they are. Just like the walls in this house. They were dark brown and now they are white with gold trim."

►The main motto in your life: place a golden lining in everything?
"Isn't that nice? Those princess' gowns of my girls in the orchestra on stage, I personally design them. Especially low necklines I find important. It has to look beautiful. I often see ladies in these classical orchestras in a black cloth and with a face like an earworm. Why??" 

►Do you have groupies?
"Yes, a lot."

►Are you never been tempted when a beautiful woman approaches you and says: "Oh, André ... your hair..."
"What am I suppose to do then? Sleep with all those women or what?? That seems to be very exhausting to me. There are also beautiful women in the audience and I like to look at them. And to smile to each other. But there it stops, and I had a nice moment. There are also a couple of stalkers, and I don't like that at all. Sometimes they are here near our house. Fortunately they cannot keep that up for months. One is there again, every concert on the first row. With such a drawn out, scary face. It is really terrible. It started after my first hit. Suddenly there was someone who followed the bus and ended up in front of my door. That scares you to death. I consulted Harry Sacksioni (a famous Dutch saxophone player), who was once confronted in his bedroom by a stalker with a knife. He taught me how to cope with this. For instance: Never talk to them."

►Your money of course is also attractive. Previously you had little. Now you have a lot.
"I spoil my family, my orchestra and myself, but I do not have millions in the bank. I earn a lot, but the company also costs a lot. I have to be very careful."

►Just like the million dollar copies of the Sissi castles you created as decorum. It almost led to your bankruptcy, after you experienced that financial disaster due to your burn-outs. Everything belonged to the Rabo Bank. My royalties, my name, violin, this castle, everything. One banker said: We are stopping here. Another said: No way, Rieu makes beautiful music; he'll recoup that in no time. I was 38 million in debt. The next year I had 20 million in the black. That idiotic expensive décor earned itself back by the extra press attention and ticket sales. I don't regret it."

►Everything for the ultimate fairy tale world.
"Precisely!!"

A Huge Thank You to John and Ineke for the Translation of this Long Interview to end 2012 with!

And all the best Wishes for The New Year!!

André Rieu: My Drive is Huge!

MY DRIVE IS HUGE

André Rieu refuses to slow down after his burn-out

Coldplay, van Halen and Lady Gaga all have one thing in common: they have stiff competition to fear from André Rieu. The king of the waltz refuses to slow down after his burn-out earlier this year, and is touring all over the world. "Being on tour is less tiresome than being at home. Here I only have to perform." 

Alemeen Dagblad, by Marlis van Leeuwen: André Rieu (63) barely gives any more interviews. With these sort of marginal side-issues, he much rather not be involved, that was the lesson he learned from his burn out. Definitely not on the days when he has a performance that evening. And given the fact that the agenda of the Netherlands’ most successful violinist is filled to the brim, makes acquiring an appointment for an interview quite a chore. In December, André has exactly one spot open between his performances in Ireland and Scotland, before his concert this coming Saturday (22 December) in the "Ahoy" in Rotterdam. "Is travelling tiresome? I do not think so. The orchestra always visits the city. I do not do that. I mostly see my hotel room" says André in the presidential suite of the Glasgow Hilton. The rest of his entourage – a total of about 110 personnel – sleeps in the same hotel. "It is a traveling circus." There is a prominent place in his hotel room, reserved for a treadmill. For the last few months now, this monster always goes along on tour. "I do not like to work out. I hate weight lifting, but then I think: Hey, this is nice! It is really true that when your body changes, so does your mind. I now weigh 12 kilos (26 lbs) less. I can still afford to lose a little more, but it feels so much better now. There is a world of difference now when I am on stage." Working out is the new life’s philosophy for the violin virtuoso (I would recommend to everyone) after he severely crashed earlier this year due to burn out, just like in 2010. "I became dizzy in the middle of the night. That’s scary. It just does not go away. My wife Marjorie was enormously shocked that this happened for the second time. I had to suspend everything for 3 months. I had again exceeded my limits. So I thought: "This will not ever happen again." "I no longer participate in frivolous things. The irony is that the Christmas special, which is now number 1 here in England, was the cause then. That was towards the end of last year and was extremely fun to do, but we did work until 4 in the morning. At a certain moment it all comes to a halt. Says your body: "You can continue on if you want, but I am going to quit. You cannot expect that from your body, especially when you are not in shape."

SUPER FANATIC 

Looking back he might have to hit himself over the head in the fact that in last 4 years he hasn’t done anything physical. He is now super fanatic about his health. "I have a personal trainer, who often accompanies us on tour. He gives me tips and exercises, and then I secretly do more. Which could actually be a little dangerous," so says the Maastricht citizen.

"My drive is huge." As soon as Rieu was fit again, he started touring again at full speed. Brazil, Germany, Denmark, France and the traditional concerts on the Vrijthof in Maastricht. He won prestigious awards in places like Mexico and Great-Britain. Surpassed Coldplay in the British music top 40 DVD chart, and with his tours earned more than Lady Gaga and Van Halen.

Thanks to son Pierre, André gets to keep a little of that. That is important, because in 2008 the violin virtuoso almost went bankrupt due to a very enthusiastically and elaborate tour, with an orchestra of megalomaniac proportions and a copied Viennese castle. "So is that with Marjorie and I. We enjoy doing these things, but never with the intention of becoming rich. Pierre says: "It is a nice idea, but there has to be something in the end too. And in that he is right. Someday I will retire, and financially that is not too far off. Pierre taught me that I spend too much. Not that I buy Ferrari’s, but I put too much back in the company. I play in large venues which do not always present the most romantic ambiance. So, at the spur of the moment I had them make gigantic chandeliers. It looked fantastic" says Rieu looking back at it. "I can still see Pierre standing there, trying to figure out what that would cost us per year to hang them and drag them along. He told me that the audience had no idea that those chandeliers belonged to me. There wasn’t a note attached saying: "This chandelier belongs to André Rieu." He was right. Now those chandeliers are stored in a warehouse." Everyone around him, except Marjorie and sons Marc and Pierre, ask André if he would not like to slow down a little. Result: "Being on tour is less tiresome than being at home. Here all I need to do is perform. Everything is prepared, everything is arranged. My team, with whom I have been working with for years, does all that. The only thing I need to worry about is getting enough sleep, and that I am well rested when I go on stage. Then everything is OK!" 

"At home I am always thinking: "What will I be doing next year. What is the next step? You have to be very creative, that is hard work. Discussing things with Marjorie. Even when I walk the dog, am I grinding along. Here, when on tour, I am actually on holiday. Of course every day, I work slowly towards a concert. But that is more tranquil. While on the road, he keeps as much contact as possible with his wife, who does not like to travel. "I live through my telephone. I wonder how I was able to manage that in the past. When there is on occasion, no wireless internet, I swear: " What sort of a backwards place is this?"

FAMILY

After this Saturday’s concert in the "Ahoy" André will disappear from the stage for a week. Between Christmas and New Year’s it is all about the family. Being home, in the castle in Maastricht. Christmas is very plain with us. No five course diner, those I have while on tour. Just being together. The boys do the cooking. We do not go out and visit people. I am always on the road and then it feels wonderful to just be at home with the family, with the children and grand children. Present? This year I’ll be home just in the nick of time, so I do not know whether I have time to buy presents. Anyway, the grandchildren will be inundated with gifts. As grandparents we are allowed to spoil them. What will 2013 bring us? The waltzking is full of ideas. In January he will be working with Jermaine Jackson, Michael’s brother. Maybe he might appear at the Vrijthof concerts. We get along very well with each other. To conquer China could very well be the next step. 

I do not have a dream. I just would like to continue in this fashion. To conduct concerts and to have a nice evening. Afterwards you read on twitter what people are saying, that this was the nicest concert they ever experienced. That is what it is all about. My work makes me happy. Really, I do not understand why people want to retire early." 

Thanks to Ineke for sending this and John Translating it. Photos by Jeanette 

New Meeting With Rieu and Jermain Jackson

New meeting With Rieu and Jermain Jackson

The Telegraaf: There was a little excitement as to whether it would all come together, but a new meeting between Jermaine Jackson and André Rieu will definitively take place. That is what son Pierre Rieu had disclosed according to the The Telegraaf. 

The new meeting will take place after the New Year. "Jermaine will come to Maastricht in January and with my father will get started. That is going to be very exciting." 

Late November was the first meeting between Michael Jackson's brother and our own Waltz King. "It appears that he has already worked with classical music, and was curious about my father's work," said Pierre. "That's why he came for lunch and to listen. The following week he came back, this time with his brothers. That was a very nice informal meeting." 

Whatever the outcome of the meeting exactly will be, Pierre could not say. "Whether it is going to be classic or pop, that is not quite clear yet. I suspect Jermaine is going to focus on André's music. Jermaine appears to be a really sweet, sensitive man who, as far as I am concerned, has a beautiful voice. Anything is possible in the studio. Who knows, the end result could be a nice mix of styles of Jermaine and my father's."

Thanks to Ineke for sending this and John for Translating it 

André Rieu Tour Beats Lopez, Bieber

André Rieu Tour Beats Lopez, Bieber Sales Figures

December 18th 2012 Classic fM
André Rieu's European tour has been named as the second most popular tour in the world this week, beating artists like Jennifer Lopez and Justin Bieber. 

The European tour from Dutch violinist André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra has been named the second most popular live show in the world this week, after Barbra Streisand's tour of the US and Canada. Rieu's 15 shows in Germany, Switzerland and France this October attracted more than 63,000 ticket-buying fans, and made almost $5.5m dollars, according to Billboard. The tour grossed more money than pop artists like Jennifer Lopez and Justin Bieber, rock acts like Radiohead and Robert Plant, and comedian Michael McIntyre's residency at London's O2 Arena. 

Rieu is currently in the middle of his UK tour, having played London's O2 Arena last night. He is due to play three shows in Birmingham before Christmas, before one final concert in Rotterdam.

Little Rosa From Home For The Holidays

Al just discovered he took these pictures back in 2010, but he didn't know at the time who the little girl was. He realized now who she is and sent them to me. 

I thought it would be nice to share them on here with everyone. She is the cute little ballerina Rosa from "Home For The Holidays",  who is the daughter of ►Diana Morsinkhof who plays first violin in the JSO ... Thanks Al!

André Rieu Passes Coldplay!

André Rieu Passes Coldplay on England's DVD List

LONDON - On Monday, André Rieu entered the British Top 40 musical DVD list in the number 1 position. His new DVD "Home For Christmas" places the live DVD' s of Westlife and Coldplay, who were number 1 last week, behind him.

"Home For Christmas" has primarily been recorded in Rieu's castle in Maastricht, and consists of 26 classic Christmas songs.The violinist is currently touring in the United Kingdom with his concert series called "An Unforgettable Evening With Andre Rieu". 

There are four Rieu DVDs in the Music Video Top 40 list. "Under The Stars - Live in Maastricht 5" is currently at number 14 and "Live At The Royal Albert Hall" is number 38. This latest DVD has already been on the charts for 148 weeks.

André Rieu on Good Morning America!

All USA Fans!

Don't Forget To Watch André on GMA Tomorrow Morning!

Thursday December 6th

►Read Small Article of André on Good Morning America

André Rieu: 'Home for the Holidays'

The violinist, with a festive new album, is popular around the world. Is the U.S. next?

Christina Ianzito | from: AARP | December 4, 2012 André Rieu, the accomplished Dutch violinist known for his extravagant, unstuffy performances of classical waltzes, may be the most popular musician you've never heard of. With millions of albums sold and ticket sales that rival those of Celine Dion and Lady Gaga, he should be a household name but, be honest, have you heard of him?

►Click HERE To Read Full Article 

This is so much fun !! Did you get your Free Gift Today?

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