Rieu has a violin and a life mission
The Dutchman seeks to make classical music a populist art form again.
By K.S. Wang
Special to the Register

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Dutch violinist and conductor Andre Rieu has given himself a big mission in life: to bring classical music and traditional tunes from a simpler time back to the masses.

Some might describe him as a cross between Yanni and Itzhak Perlman. In Europe, he is dubbed "the Waltz King" because he enjoys playing waltzes in elaborate stadium concerts at which he conducts his own Johann strauss Orchestra.

Rieu's latest release, a CD/DVD combination called "The Flying Dutchman," hits stores today. He'll perform at the Los Angeles Sports Arena on Dec. 17.

While he is gaining popularity here, he has sold about 20 million albums worldwide, quite a feat considering that his first album - "Strauss and Co.," a collection of Strauss waltzes - only came out in 1994.

"(The) only reason I travel the world and that is that I want to achieve contact with the public every night," Rieu said from his home on the Netherlands. "That is why I think music is there, to make contact, ... That is my job.

Orange County PBS outlet KOCE/50 was the first TV station to bring Rieu to viewers in Southern California, taking a chance on this virtually unknown musician a couple years ago. It was so successful, KOCE sent a camera crew and it's on-air host of "Bookmark," Maria Hall Brown, to his castle home in the Dutch town of Maastricht last year for a pledge drive.

"What we've always tried to do with pledge here is give everything a try and find the things that people want and bring them to people, and that is how we came across with Andre Rieu, giving him a try and finding out he works," said KOCE President Mel Rogers.

The concert that aired for August's pledge drive was held in Rieu's own country, in a sold-out stadium of 18,000 fans. Rieu played familiar songs such as "Entry of the Gladiators," which makes people immediately think of the circus. But most have not heard the entire song played at circuses. "You only hear this one theme," Rieu said. "It's a beautiful piece buy you never hear the whole thing."

Other songs performed in the "Flying Dutchman" concert and on his upcoming CD are "The Laughing Song" from the opera "Die Fledermaus," "Habanera" from the opera "Carmen," "Triumphal March" from the opera "Aida," and several waltzes.

"We live in a world today where there aren't a lot of mass shared experiences anymore," Rogers said. "One segment really likes European, classical and fold and the kind of music from the Old World that Andre Rieu likes to do. They like the classical element and the way it is staged. And there hasn't been a lot for those people in decades."

While the idea of listening to waltzes, marches and traditional tunes may sound cheesy to cynics, to attend one of his concerts harks back to a simpler time. "There's a certain grandness about it, a certain bigness to the whole show; there is a wholesomeness to it," Rogers said.

Rieu was born in 1949 in Maastricht, the oldest city in Holland, which was founded by the Romans. His father, Andre Rieu Sr., was a conductor, and the younger Rieu had his first violin lesson at age 5.

It's in our blood, so when I was in kindergarten I asked the other children, "What violin do you have?" because I thought everybody has a violin. And then after a certain time, I discovered that there were also normal, that they were not all musicians," Rieu said with a laugh.

Rieu became fascinated with classical music after he attended his father's concerts as a child. "the most important thing I remember was the sound of the string orchestra and all the bows going up and down at the same time," he said. "I remember that as a little boy, for me that was a sort of miracle. At that time I knew I wanted to be a violinist. I wanted to be onstage."

He got his first impression of Strauss waltzes after attending one of his father's concerts held at the local carnival. His dad would play some Strauss waltzes to reflect the festival atmosphere.

"As a little boy I noticed the public was listening all evening very stiff and very serious to the classical music, and suddenly in the encore with the waltz, the whole audience around me started humming and moving with the music, and that struck me immediately, so I thought, "What is this?"" he said.

He later attended the Maastricht Academy of Music as well as the Brussels Academy of Music. At age 28 he toured the world for the first time with the Maastricht Salon Orchestra. "I wanted to see the whole world... not as a tourist, but traveling around with my own orchestra."

Nine years later, he formed the Johann Strauss Orchestra, which boasts about 50 musicians. Rieu not only named the orchestra after the late classical composer as a tribute, but, he said, Strauss is his "musical example" and a "genius".

"He composed all these waltzes, all these polkas, all this fantastic music," Rieu said. "I think his music is a mirror of life. Life is not only joyful and terrible, life is always both. Life is a combination of melancholy and joyfulness, and when you listen to his waltzes you see life, you hear life."

Classical music was the pop music of its time, but centuries after its inception, Rieu feels it has become music for the elite. He hopes to change that.

"Mozart was a fantastic, lively, humorous guy. I don't understand; everybody plays Mozart now like with the face that they are going to die," he said, "It is very important that we try to bring some life back into classical music, because otherwise it's going to die."

Audiences at Rieu's concerts don't resemble typical classical music patrons.

"I am proud of the fact that so many people come to my concerts from all different educations, he said, "Everybody can come to my concert."