December 2nd 2024 Chapeau Magazine Art and Culture Maastricht, December 2, 2024 by Jo Cortenraedt. Translated and edited by Diana D. Le Photos by L1. Second biography André Rieu with videos In André Rieu's studio, the second biography of the world-famous Maastrichtenaar was presented, just like the first edition written by his wife Marjorie. It was presented to mayor Wim Hillenaar. The first book was published in 1996. Much has happened since then, as we can read and see, because this edition also includes QR codes with which the reader can play videos. Although many books have been written about Rieu, he chose to have his wife write the biography. "She knows me better than anyone. And it certainly doesn't just describe the successes, but also the difficult path we have taken to get this far." André and Marjorie Rieu had to lobby a lot before they were allowed to record their first CD with a record company. But that one, with among other things "The Second Waltz", also meant the breakthrough. "Since then we have been traveling the world and with the orchestra we have a lot of fun and also a lot of time to talk to each other. It is one big family." André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra are currently preparing for the Christmas concerts in MECC Maastricht, which will start next week. The first biography, written bij Marjorie Rieu, was released in 1996. It is still available in several languages at André’s webshop: https://shop.andrerieu.com/product/andre-rieu-my-music-my-life/

The Limburger, December 2, 2024, by Jo Cortenraedt. Translated and edited by Diana D. Le Rieu's biography gets an update André Rieu's success seems self-evident, but it wasn't for a long time. And even though that worldwide success is now there, the Rieu household is still working hard to maintain that result and expand it even further. This is evident from the new biography that was presented on Monday, December 2nd, in Rieu's studio. The first copy was presented to mayor Wim Hillenaar by the most famous resident of his city. Marjorie’s pen In 1996, the first biography was published, written by his wife Marjorie. And the second version that is now seeing the light of day was also compiled by her. "I also know that biographies are usually written by so- called neutral writers, but nobody knows me as well as Marjorie", said the orchestra leader at the presentation. "And she has a beautiful pen and a perfect feeling for language." Approval It is the only book by Rieu that the Stehgeiger himself approves of. "There have been several books about me, but we never participated in them. Not to be annoying, but simply because we want to keep as much control as possible ourselves*. It doesn't have to be made more beautiful than it is, but it just has to be right," says Rieu. "This book also describes in detail how hard we had to fight, especially in the beginning. It wasn't easy financially either, but we persevered because of our love for music. Marjorie and I still realize every day that success didn't come easy and how hard we had to fight to get here." Drought in Sahel For example, the book tells the story of the first concert that Rieu organised himself. The Gala Concert in 1987, the proceeds of which were used for victims of drought in the Sahel. "That gave me a lot of self- confidence. The best thing of all was that I could be completely independent. No boss telling me what to do and what not to do. After that, I dared to produce more concerts, realising that we were running financial risks by doing so. Who knows, my wife and I thought at the time, we might succeed in building our own business." The road to success was particularly bumpy in the early years. "We traveled to Berlin, Paris and other cities to talk to impresarios to see if they could help us, but we always got the same answer: 'It's nice what you're doing, but unfortunately there's no audience for it.' If Marjorie and I hadn't been so persistent and intuitively felt that all these people were mistaken, there would have been plenty of times when we would have thrown in the towel." Second Waltz Record companies also saw little benefit in the way Rieu performs classical music. "Until Herman van der Zwam of Phonogram in Hilversum took the trouble to come and see a concert. Then he finally wanted to record a CD with us. Among other things, the Second Walz was on it. That was an immediate huge success and our breakthrough. Marjorie and I fell into each other's arms, crying." Fiasco The new biography includes stories about the many world tours that followed, the Vrijthof concerts and the countless international television appearances. But also the financial fiasco with the replica Schloss Schönbrunn, which almost cost the family their heads. In addition to photos, the book also contains QR-codes so that the reader can play a video.