Read on to discover the music that shaped King of the Waltz, violinist André Rieu...
Who is André Rieu?
King of the Waltz, Dutch musical impresario André Rieu has taken the world by storm with his Johann Strauss Orchestra. Together, they travel the globe, filling arenas with joyful music-making to melt even the hardest of hearts. From 2 April to 12 May 2025, they are making a much-anticipated return to the UK, bringing with them opera classics, film themes, romantic ballads and the traditional pieces his loyal audiences have come to expect.
The early years and dreams of creating something joyful
My father was a conductor in my home city of Maastricht, and I played violin in his symphony orchestra for 11 years. I married Marjorie and we had little children, and a mortgage, so I had to stay. But I remember sitting in that orchestra and decided after one week that I did not want to die there. Nobody spoke about music, only union stuff and whether it was too cold or too hot; they were always complaining.
So I created a little salon orchestra and we started to play at weddings and elderly homes. My first hit was Toselli’s Nightingale Serenade. I brought it to the radio stations, and one of the radio guys had a bird in his room – I think it was a canary. Whenever he played my Toselli, the bird would start to whistle! So, he mixed the two and broadcast it; then everybody said, ‘Where can I buy that?’
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André Rieu... founding the Johann Strauss Orchestra
I left my father’s orchestra and founded the Johann Strauss Orchestra. In the beginning it was hard; nobody wanted me, and nobody wanted to make a record. I finally got a contract with Universal and they said, ‘Perhaps at Christmas we’ll sell 20,000 CDs.’ That Christmas I sold 250,000! Then the following June it was 900,000.
Who could have imagined that Shostakovich’s Second Waltz would be such a hit in Holland? Nobody did that after me and so it was huge. In the north they do the Eleven Cities Tour, and it was always broadcast on television. I remember all the people who were there watching the skaters were also singing my waltz. So that was my breakthrough.
Discovering a love for the waltz
I must have been very young when I first heard Johann Strauss II's The Blue Danube. My father loved to give encores, and it was always a Strauss waltz – I think I have this Strauss gene from him. I remember sitting in the audience; he was playing Rachmaninov and Bach, or whatever, and then when he played an encore I saw that the audience started to move and smile, or even hum the melody.
The stiffness during the classical music suddenly disappeared; I still remember the emotion it gave me, that it was possible to play music in another way. I think that was the beginning of my being different to the other musicians. Every night, whenever and wherever we play, near the end of the concert we perform The Blue Danube and the whole audience stands up and starts to dance. I don’t ask them to, they just do it, and it’s so nice; it has become a tradition. It’s joyful.
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André Rieu... the power of encores
I once saw a Last Night of the Proms and that atmosphere stroked my heart. I thought, ‘Oh my goodness that’s fantastic, they are professional but at the same time it’s fun.’ And that’s what I wanted to bring. So Johann Strauss I's Radetzky March has become another tradition, and I always finish a concert with it.
After this piece I go off, I get my flowers and then we start the encores. It’s always about half an hour of encores, and the audiences all over the world know that when the Radetzky March comes it’s the beginning of the finale. That’s the real party and they don’t want to leave; it’s a beautiful atmosphere.
How to finish a concert in style
‘Adieu, mein Kleiner Gardeoffizier’ is really the last piece we play, and that’s a song by Robert Stolz that has become a favourite. It’s a German text and nobody in England, Abu Dhabi or Colombia knows the words, but they know the piece and they know it’s a goodbye. My singers wave their arms high and the whole audience does it, too; you see 50,000 with their arms up.
It’s really incredible to see that all around the world; they know that we’re going to play it, that it’s the last piece and that soon they’ll have to go home. I go up on one leg and keep them hanging, waiting… the more I like the concert, the more I hold the note.