Andre Rieu
André Rieu is a Dutch violinist, conductor and composer.
He began his study of the violin at just five years old and developed a fascination with the orchestra while still very young.
After forming and performing with several different orchestras, Andre Rieu formed the Johann Strauss Orchestra in 1987. It started with just twelve musicians but now has between forty and fifty members performing. The orchestra is considered responsible for a revival in Waltz music, spurred on by their recording of Second Waltz. Rieu has even been referred to as the ‘Waltz King'.
Andre Rieu speaks Limburgish, Dutch, English, German, French, Italian and Spanish. He was born in Maastricht, The Netherlands in 1949 and plays a violin built by Antonio Stradivarius (who he says is the best violin builder of all time!) in 1667.
Andre married his wife, Marjorie – his ‘great love', in 1975 and has two grown sons with her, Marc and Pierre.
The audio from this interview has not been uploaded. If you are keen to have a listen, we can source the recording from our archives and make it available on this page. Simply email info@reallife.net.nz and include the name of the guest you'd like to listen to. We will notify you when we've uploaded the recording.