Christmas concert 2024

ANDRERIEUMOVIES.COM

6 Christmas concerts in 2024 in the MECC, Maastricht

The Limburger, December 12, 2024, by Ivar Hoekstra, reporter media & culture and columnist. Photo: Marcel van Hoorn. Translated by Ineke and edited by Diana D. Le André Rieu Christmas concerts even grander than previous years: “There will be four hundred wind instruments alone” The André Rieu Christmas concerts in the MECC, have become a household name in five years. It is as much a part of Christmas as the Viennetta ice cream cake is a part of Christmas dinner dessert: the André Rieu Christmas concerts in the MECC in Maastricht. They will start again on Friday and it will be even grander than previous years. Pierre Rieu: "There will be four hundred wind instruments alone." The first edition of the Christmas concerts in the MECC took place in 2019. In five years, they have become a spectacle that is even starting to rival the summer Vrijthof concerts by André Rieu and his Johann Strauss orchestra. “In terms of preparation, it is perhaps even more intensive than the Vrijthof concerts,” says Pierre Rieu, André’s son. “The four hundred wind instruments that are participating for the first time now come from all over the country. And we have had to train them in recent weeks, our choreographer Kim Smit has been to Maastricht and Sevenum, but also to Veldhoven and Odijk, a village near Utrecht. And for the 170 dancing couples that are participating again this year, Smit has traveled to Waalwijk, Utrecht, Almere, Almelo, and Assen, among other places.” Flying in Flying in all those brass players and dancing couples a day in advance and then quickly getting them ready clashes with the perfection that André Rieu strives for. “It has to be perfect, my father will never make any concessions on that. I saw it again during the rehearsals the last few days, nothing escapes him. Quality always comes before quantity for him.” It was also a painstaking task for Rieu’s dressmakers. “Four hundred suits for the brass players that all have to be exactly the same, you can imagine. But they turned out beautifully.” Where there was a fake ice rink in the MECC last year, there is now a real one again. “Because that fake rink was nothing, so we are going back to a real ice rink.” All with just one goal: the visitor must be overwhelmed by the Christmas spirit. Rieu: "New this year is that we will also provide entertainment outside at the entrance and inside, visitors will be greeted by a 4.5-meter-high wooden Christmas angel." While the Vrijthof square already provides a cozy atmosphere, transforming the MECC into a cozy place is hard work, according to Rieu. "The MECC is basically an empty box, of course. But from Friday, it will once again be the place where Christmas beats the drum: with a Christmas village and a decor with snow, ice rinks, and chandeliers. We have 85 trailers in storage with, among other things, Christmas decorations, and just like with the Christmas baubles in people's homes, those items can be taken out of the box once a year." 75,000 According to Rieu, the difference between the Vrijthof concerts and the Christmas concerts in the MECC in terms of approach and grandeur is getting smaller. "Also in terms of visitor numbers. Not counting the terraces, you have 88,000 spectators at the twelve Vrijthof concerts. The MECC can accommodate 12,500 people, so with six evenings you have 75,000." The difference is that the visitors to the Vrijthof concerts are more international. "In the summer, they really come from all over the world. At the Christmas concerts, they are mainly Dutch, Belgians, and Germans. Although you see that changing. Last year, I also met quite a few English people." Cinema Where the Christmas concerts have overtaken the Vrijthof concerts in terms of popularity, is in the cinema. The Christmas recordings do better there. "But that also depends on the time of year, Christmas lends itself more to cinema. In the weeks before Christmas and during Christmas, people want to get that Christmas feeling and a Christmas concert fits in with that, of course." When the last of the six Christmas concerts in the MECC has been played on 22 December, the Rieu family's agenda is cleared for a while. "We celebrate Christmas together at home in Maastricht. That is sacred. Then we will prepare for the New Year's shows in the Ziggo Dome on 10 and 11 January." Christmas with André Rieu in the MECC on 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, and 22 December. More info: www.andrerieu.com

Telegraaf/Privé, December 13, 2024, by Harrie Nijen Twilhaar Photo (from 2023): Marcel van Hoorn Translated by Ineke, edited by John de Jong André Rieu thins out tour schedule: 'Those long journeys have proven to be quite an impact on everyone's health' With the holidays approaching, it is once again up to André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra to transform the MECC in Maastricht into a winter wonderland. With his annual Christmas concerts, the Maestro will be performing six nights in his hometown, starting tonight. And as far as he is concerned, the spectacle stays there. "We did it in the United Kingdom for a while, but the halls there were ugly and especially freezing cold!" André Rieu returns to the MECC on Friday evening (Dec.13th 2024) with Emma Kok and others, with his Christmas concerts. The distribution of his concerts in the Limburg capital has remained unchanged for years: in the summer with a cold beer on the Vrijthof and somewhere in mid-December with mulled wine in the MECC conference center. "They are going to be fantastic evenings again," as André Rieu (75) looks ahead to his spectacular Christmas performances. In the enchanting ballroom setting, the waltz king and his orchestra will once again immerse some seventy thousand fans in winter atmospheres in the coming weeks. "Of all ages and nationalities! A true Christmas spectacle, including skaters and dancers on the ice and four hundred brass players. They provide a beautiful Christmas sound." Student Plácido Domingo In addition to his protégé Emma Kok – she recently announced to Privé that she will be giving a solo concert next year in the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam – André will also share the stage with a great singing talent this edition. “Fantastic soloists will come to Maastricht, including The Platin Tenors, Anna Majchrzak from the Netherlands and the American Micaëla Oeste. The latter is a student of opera singer and conductor Plácido Domingo. He put me in touch with Micaëla a few years ago and I immediately fell in love with her beautiful voice.” Why don’t you take the shows abroad? “Well, we had been giving Christmas concerts in the United Kingdom for years for a very nice and enthusiastic audience. But the venues where we performed were ugly and especially freezing cold! We were all always shivering there, some of us even came home sick. I no longer wanted to do that to my orchestra and myself. For me, Christmas concerts belong in a beautiful, warm environment. That's why I came up with the idea of turning the conference hall in Maastricht into a winter wonderland. And it's beautiful, really a fairy tale. And warm, haha!” Two months ago, you turned 75. Are you used to that age by now? “Yes, of course. We celebrated it with everyone, both friends and the entire company. With all the employees and their families, a total of five hundred people, we went to the Efteling for a weekend. Super fun!” Recently, a revised version of your biography “My Music, My Life” was published. Why? “My wife Marjorie wrote it back in 1994, following our breakthrough with “The Second Waltz”. Of course, a lot has happened since then. She described that period on the basis of photos and videos, which can be viewed via QR codes. Not so much what happened, because that is now well-known by now, but how I experienced it all. Like the corona period, in which we could not perform. That had a lot of impact on all of us.” You have been performing regularly for a while now. A new tour awaits in 2025. “But with fewer concerts. The long journeys, with long flights and jet lag, have turned out to be quite an impact on everyone's health. So, we will be doing less of them in the future. In addition to Europe, we will be performing in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, among others. The USA and South America are not on the agenda for the time being, but there are plenty of places left to perform!”

Ruud and Ineke attended the 2024 Christmas concert in the MECC (Congress- and Exhibition center) in Maastricht, on Sunday December 15th. The Christmas card from Little André and Melody (the animated series in the making), was on our seats. Photos by Ruud and Ineke. As usual, the doors opened two hours before the concert was due to start. We were welcomed by Dickens figures, statues of Santa Claus with his reindeer, a larger than life wooden Christmas angel, on which the sculptor was even still working! (www.tommycarving.nl). The Christmas village contained an ice rink, many stalls with food and drinks, Rieu merchandise, a Lego model of the Winter Palace in the MECC with an audience of 12,000 people, and demonstrations of reed weaving. The musical Christmas experience in the concert was different this year. More unknown, subdued music, between the well-known traditional Christmas carols. We really appreciated this, because at Christmas it is almost impossible not to fall back on the same music every year. The repertoire was different this year, but just as beautiful and absolutely in the Christmas spirit. 400 brass players entered the hall. Anna Reker sang a song from her homeland Ukraine, called 'Carol of the Bells' which is heard in the typical Christmas film "Home alone". Emma performed the Disney song "Let it go" from the movie "Frozen". There was a Swiss pan flute player who was born with short arms, no hands. He was the youngest of a very musical family. He specialized in the pan flute, because many other musical instruments were out of the question for him. Michel Tirabosco performed the song "Across the stars" on the pan flute. Anna Majchrzak performed “You raise me up”, Micaëla Oeste sang “O mio Bambino Caro”, Christina Petrou sang a popular Greek Christmas song.