Andre Rieu

Re-creating the charm of an earlier age, violinist, conductor, and composer André Rieu surfaced toward the end of the 1980s as a modern-day Waltz King focused on light classics and Viennese salon pieces. To evoke the atmosphere of a Strauss performance from the 1800s, he established his supporting ensemble as the Johann Strauss Orchestra and leads from the violin in the manner of Strauss and his siblings, marking time with his bow, the instrument itself, and bodily movement that nearly dances the pulse. Rieu has noted in writing that he understands how today’s seated concert format creates a divide between musicians and listeners unlike the more intimate settings typical of Strauss appearances, and he works deliberately to close that divide by drawing the audience into the performance. Audiences have embraced the approach, resulting in consistent sell-outs for his shows across Europe and the United States.

Many of the Dutchman’s recordings were made at his personal studio in Maastricht, and his extensive catalog encompasses classical pieces, folk and pop selections, and selections drawn from film scores and stage musicals. The inaugural release, 1994’s From Holland with Love, achieved international best-seller status, while numerous later albums of varied repertoire attained chart prominence in individual regions and worldwide. La Vie Est Belle, released in 2000, marked the first occasion a waltz of his own composition appeared on one of his albums. Radio City Music Hall, Live in New York, his initial concert special captured on American soil, debuted on PBS in 2007, and Waltzing Matilda reached the top of the Australian album chart in 2008. In the United Kingdom, And the Waltz Goes On topped the album listings in 2011, its focal point being a waltz penned by actor Anthony Hopkins. Amore arrived in 2017 to mark the Johann Strauss Orchestra’s thirtieth anniversary. Billboard noted in 2018 that Rieu’s cumulative box-office earnings had exceeded half a billion dollars, positioning him as the highest-grossing classical artist in Boxscore history. He marked his own seventieth birthday that same year with Happy Days. Further festive recordings followed in the form of 2021’s Happy Together and the 2022 holiday collection Silver Bells.

Born André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu in Maastricht, the Netherlands, in 1949, he grew up in a household steeped in music. His father served as conductor of both the Limburg Symphony Orchestra and the Leipzig Opera, and most of his siblings pursued careers as professional musicians. The predominant repertoire heard at home consisted of symphonies, chamber music, and operas. Rieu began violin lessons at age five, later attending the Conservatorium Maastricht between 1968 and 1973 and the Music Academy in Brussels from 1974 to 1977, where he ultimately received his Premier Prix diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.

A pivotal shift occurred during his conservatory years when he accepted a position performing with a salon ensemble that specialized in dance and light music reminiscent of the pre–World War I era. During one such engagement he performed Franz Lehár’s Gold and Silver Waltz; as he concentrated on conveying its character to the audience, he became enchanted by its rhythmic sway and resolved to devote himself to similar repertoire. In 1978 he founded the Maastricht Salon Orchestra, which continued—with occasional personnel adjustments—until 1987. Its typical instrumentation featured solo violin alongside additional violins, cello, double bass, and piano, with occasional doubling on trumpet and glockenspiel. The group issued several recordings, initially on Da Capo and subsequently on Philips.

Rieu established the Johann Strauss Orchestra, which presented its debut concert in January 1988. While steadily ascending to the ranks of the globe’s most successful touring attractions, he issued his first album with the new ensemble, From Holland with Love, in 1994; it held the number-one position in the Netherlands for an entire year. He soon became a regular presence on PBS fundraising broadcasts in the United States, and The Vienna I Love (Philips) climbed to number three on the Billboard classical albums chart in 1997. The Christmas I Love special aired on PBS that November, coinciding with his first North American tour. André Rieu in Concert appeared in 1998. He closed the decade with a series of regionally focused and international collections that included Great Waltzes: On the Beautiful Blue Danube (1998) and Romantic Moments (1999).

Although Rieu had composed throughout his career, La Vie Est Belle in 2000 was the first of his albums to feature an original waltz written by André and his brother, Jean-Philippe Rieu. Issued in 2003 to celebrate twenty-five years as a performer, the double album Romantic Paradise preceded the 2004 releases André Rieu at the Movies, Christmas with André Rieu, and the live recording The Flying Dutchman, the last capturing a concert before 18,000 listeners at a stadium in Kerkrade. Additional live albums comprised Live in Tuscany (2004), New Year’s in Vienna (2005), and Live in Vienna (2008). Meanwhile, The 100 Most Beautiful Melodies reached number two in Australia in 2007, a position later surpassed on the ARIA chart by Waltzing Matilda in 2008.

Rieu marked his sixtieth birthday in 2009, a year that included tours of Europe, North America, and Australia; You’ll Never Walk Alone returned him to the number-two spot in Australia. In December he participated in the Royal Variety Performance for Queen Elizabeth II alongside Lady Gaga, Michael Bublé, and Mika. Early the following year, Forever Vienna rose to number two in the United Kingdom. Releases from 2010 encompassed You Raise Me Up: Songs for Mum, My African Dream, and the U.K. Top Five entry Moonlight Serenade. When Rieu performed the Sir Anthony Hopkins–composed waltz And the Waltz Goes On from his U.K. number-one album of the same title, Hopkins and his wife traveled to Maastricht to attend. Home for the Holidays charted in the upper half of the Billboard 200 the next year, while Music of the Night reached the U.K. Top Five in 2013. That year Trini Lopez joined him onstage at a Maastricht concert, and Sky Arts broadcast the ten-part documentary André Rieu: Welcome to My World, offering behind-the-scenes glimpses of his touring life.

Rieu made his first appearances in Taiwan and China in 2014, a year that also brought the February release Love Letters. Roman Holiday peaked at number eight in the United Kingdom in 2015, and Falling in Love reached number seven the following year. Also in 2016, to honor Queen Elizabeth II’s ninetieth birthday, Rieu co-composed The Windsor Waltz with Frank Steijns. He returned to the U.K. Top Ten with Amore in 2017 while marking three decades with the Johann Strauss Orchestra; the concert video The Magic of Maastricht: 30 Years appeared late that year. A follow-up to the 1999 collection, Romantic Moments II, arrived in 2018. Happy Days was released in November 2019, a month after Rieu celebrated his seventieth birthday with a concert in Maastricht. Continuing in a similar spirit, Happy Together was recorded with the Johann Strauss Orchestra at his Maastricht studio in 2021. He returned to seasonal repertoire with Silver Bells in 2022, again captured in his hometown alongside the Johann Strauss Orchestra.