THE NEW KING OF THE WALTZ? André Rieu’s UNTHINKABLE Rise Sends Shockwaves Through Classical Music World—Critics Are Divided, Fans Are Weeping, and One Secret Performance May Have Changed Everything Forever

In an era where classical music fights to stay relevant, one man is rewriting the rules—and doing it with a violin in hand. André Rieu, once doubted by purists, is now being hailed in secret circles as the “new king of the waltz.” But what happened at his most recent performance that had audiences in tears and industry elites reeling? Was it just another concert, or the birth of a new musical era? Discover why Rieu’s rise has everyone talking—click below to uncover the full story.

The Dutch violinist and conductor, whose career has been devoted entirely to the waltz, has performed all over the world to huge audiences. Not only that, but the most special thing is his habit of arranging chairs so that they can walk hand in hand through the aisles of fans at most of his performances.

Rieu was ranked 8th on Pollstar’s list of the world’s most successful touring artists in 2008, with $76.9 million in revenue. In an interview with Reuters, Rieu said: “I’ve never asked the audience to dance in the aisles, but they did because they felt happy about it. People often ask me if I’m distracted when the audience dances during ‘River of Greens’? The answer is absolutely not. It’s great when it comes to life like that. Usually when I play a waltz, most of the audience starts to stand up and dance and smile with joy.”

André Rieu was the third child in a musical family, his father was a professional conductor. He was born in October 1949 in Amsterdam (Netherlands) and began studying violin at the age of 5. But while other boys often complained about being forced into music while preferring to run and play outside, our artist Rieu “had a hard time concentrating at first” because “my teacher was an extremely beautiful woman with long blonde hair. This made me just look at her and… love her instead of listening to her instructions!”. However, Rieu’s talent continued to develop and led him to higher education at the Royal Conservatory in Liège and then in Maastricht (when his family moved there).

During his time at the Academy of Music in Brussels (1974-1977), he performed Gold and Silver Waltz by Austrian-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The performance received much praise and encouragement from the audience, so Rieu decided to concentrate on performing waltzes. In 1978, he founded his first symphony orchestra, the Maastricht Salon Orchestra. The orchestra toured the Netherlands, the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States. During this time, he occasionally played with the Limburg Symphony Orchestra.

In 1987, Rieu moved closer to his ultimate goal of specializing in waltzes by naming his new orchestra Johann Strauss Orchestra after the king of the waltzes. The orchestra had only 12 members when it was first founded, but today it has an official staff of 50, not counting guest musicians and singers. Although some music critics have criticized the humorous and overly playful style between the orchestra and the audience, which is not at all typical of a classical symphony orchestra, the seriousness (from the perspective of Rieu and the orchestra members) in the quality of the music is undeniable.

The album From Holland with Love, released in 1994 in the Netherlands, achieved an unexpected success: it was the catalyst for a wave of love for waltz music in the small country (the Netherlands). “That CD was a real breakthrough for me. One of the pieces on the CD was Second Waltz, a very visual waltz. It was actually called Waltz No. 2, taken from Dmitry Shostakovich’s Jazz Suite No. 2, but it would never have been a hit if it had kept that name. So Marjorie, Rieu’s life partner and great love, changed it to Second Waltz and the rest is history. From Holland with Love quickly topped the top 100 in the Netherlands. What’s more, the album stayed in the top 10 for more than a year!” – Rieu recalls.

A year later, during an international football match at the Amsterdam Stadium, the Second Waltz was played during the half-time break. All the football fans were swaying and humming along, including those watching on the small screen. And finally, when Ajax defeated Bayern Munich, André Rieu gained thousands of new fans. From Holland with Love was also released in Germany, where the album quickly climbed the charts and easily entered the top 5. It spent many months on the Media Control best-seller list and received multiple gold and platinum awards.

By 1996, with the album The Vienna I love and the live album In concert , André Rieu was officially named “Modern king of waltz” by the media and critics. Once again, the charts in many countries had to bow to welcome him, even having to “snubbed” one of the great monuments of the world music scene, Madonna. In the same year, André Rieu was awarded the World Music Award in Monte Carlo.

Rieu’s success was not limited to the European music market. In 2001, he and his orchestra toured Asia, starting in Japan. The album Dreaming, which resulted from the tour, was a huge success. In 2003, he returned to Japan, this time expanding to 17 shows in 11 different cities. This fall, to celebrate 25 years on stage, Rieu released the double CD Romantic Paradise, one of which was a gift.

The album was a huge success. It is worth mentioning that Rieu organized three completely free shows for all fans around the world to participate in the recording process of this special anniversary edition. With a very selective market like the US, Rieu showed that his appeal is not simple when in April and May 2006 he successfully organized a tour through 25 cities in the US and Canada. This is also considered the biggest tour ever! Then in July, a representative office of Rieu was opened in New York…

With over 25 million records sold worldwide, over 700,000 fans and the “romantic prince” Richard Clayderman at the piano, the “new king of waltz” André Rieu has shown the power of true music, regardless of the era: rock, hip hop, pop, the instruments used are popular (guitar/electric guitar) or selective (piano/violin)…