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♦The Harmony Parlor With André Rieu

Aussie Friends Go To Theater Showing of André's Concert From Maastricht

Andreday, 18th July 2010
Report of their day from Val


Well, what a day we have had! Sad to think it has come and gone! Andreday, 18th July 2010, a date that seemed to take forever to arrive. A day, well worth waiting for.


Sixteen of us left our homes early this morning, with one aim in mind, to achieve “pole position” at the Cameo Theatre in Belgrave in the beautiful Dandenong Ranges. (Back row status!) However, the best laid plans can go awry as ours did! Theatre Management had changed their plan of attack following the queues that had surrounded Belgrave last October, when André was screened LIVE from Sydney, and had decided to open their doors RIEU-lly early. Not to worry though, as our seats were fine, if not a fair few rows closer to the front. Thankfully Cinema Management had provided us with their best theatre so there was plenty of room for everyone and fantastic “sound”!


Thanks to our forward scout Chris M, a booking had been made at the Reel Cafe (renamed the RIEU-L Cafe for the day) next door to the theatre, for an early coffee followed by a late lunch on completion of the concert. By this time, half of the group had taken over 16 seats in the theatre and had covered the seats with anything and everything, i.e. Andre scarves, coats, bags, etc. By 10.30 a.m. everyone had arrived and we quickly moved into position. Our seats were excellent and everyone could see (most important, when one is rather short!). “André” was up in lights on the big screen, advising us of the time left before transmission commenced.


The gorgeous Sammy from LIVE Entertainment graced us with her presence and proceeded to tell us what was in store for us (as if we didn’t know!!). A wonderful tour of Maastricht set the tone for what was to follow, and only served to whet the appetite for the intrepid travellers planning their Andre adventure for July 2011!The countdown was over and there HE was, marching, whistling, waving - magnificent!
The concert was fantastic. We loved it. Everything seemed to go according to Andre’s plan. Tonight, no fire backstage, no storm to create havoc, just marvellous music, singing, colour and Andre, at his best!


Sammy again appeared during Intermission and provided us with a wonderful interview with “our” gorgeous Mirusia, and then the second half began. André kept us amused as he organised the returning crowd, most of them battling to find their correct seat.


Too soon it was all over, and true to his word, André provided a wonderful, sparkling interview with Sammy, immediately after the concert had ended. We now look forward to October when he will be Down Under to visit us and once again, fill our lives with “magic”, bring it on!!

We look forward to the return of our wandering minstrels, Mrs. Ed, Helen & Richard and Val & Graham at the end of July when they will tell us all about their wonderful time in marvellous Maastricht (very similar to “marvellous Melbourne”!).


In the meantime, we have lots to look forward to, beginning with “Christmas in July” in Woodend at a Dutch Cafe, with “André on tap” on 29th July. In August, we look forward to sharing our Get-Together with Mother Superior on 25th August at The Knox Tavern. In October, on the 1st (André’s birthday!) we will spend the day at the wonderful Tesselaar’s Tulip Farm, and then it will be “Showtime” at Rod Laver Arena !!


Before ending my report, I would like to welcome Yvonne, who is going to join us at our August Get-together, and possibly Marie and Henry & Maria will come along too. I look forward to seeing you again soon and thank you so much for your support, encouragement and wonderful company, all thanks to the Maestro, André.


CheeRIEU ... love from Your Roving Reporter, Val

Some Christmas Photos With André

(Click on Photos to See Full Size)

Sketch by "Lilly" and Painting by Her Aunt "Nada"

♫ On Wednesday, Nov. 12, many of you may have read a guestbook message from Lilly, in Australia:

Dear Friends of Andre,
My name is Lilly and I am writing this on behalf of my 84 year old aunt, a talented artist. She painted a lovely portrait of Andre, and would love to send it to him. Reason being is, she lost her only daughter in May from cancer, and Mr. Rieu and his music made my cousin’s final days easier to take. Is there some way we can send our heartfelt thanks and artwork to this dear man?
Thank you for your time reading this email.
Sincerely yours, Lilly Antoneavic

♫ We wrote back giving her the address that has been listed on André’s website. We passed along a suggestion that they try to give the artwork to Andre at the concerts, rather than mailing it. We also indicated that we would also like to see the pictures if they wouldn’t mind sharing them with the fans.The story continues …

Huge thank you for your kindness to my request. I was at Mr. Rieu’s concert last night here in Melbourne/Australia and I was in heaven all night. Of course you can have the Digital Pictures of the paintings and my small humble drawing. My aunt is going to his concert tonight Friday 14th and she is hoping to somehow hand the artwork to him. If she fails, then we will send it to Mr. Rieu by snail mail, lol. I was sitting extremely near the stage, I think my Aunt will be able to give Andre the art tonight, Friday November 14Th.

♫ She then sent us digital copies of the artwork, and wrote:

I am glad you like the artwork. Yes, I used a small picture of Andre my friend emailed to me so I can Draw and Paint him. Now that I have discovered the websites, I will have lots of samples from where I can draw and paint this handsome dear man, of course I will ask permission if I wish to paint from YOUR SITE. I also bought a BOOK about Andre and there are lots of nice photos from which I can indulge my passion for portraiture. Both my aunt and I are Portrait Artists.

♫ We told her we would wait until after the Friday concert to post the pictures at the slight chance they would be successful in their presentation. After all, André should be the first to see it, before the public. The next morning, here is her gleeful message!

I AM SO EXCITED! WE HANDED ANDRE OUR ARTWORK OF HIM, HE PERSONALLY TOOK IT FROM OUR HANDS AS WE SURGED THE STAGE AT INTERVAL ETC. I CAN’T BELIEVE IT I AM SO HAPPY I CAN DIE HAPPY NOW, LOL. I HOPE HE LOOKS AT THE ART MY AUNT AND I DID FOR HIM WE LOVE HIM SO MUCH AND BESIDES HIS MUSIC GAVE OUR LOVED ONE SO MUCH JOY DAYS BEFORE SHE DIED IN MAY 28TH 2008 OF CANCER. SHE WAS MY LOVING COUSIN RACHEL, AND SHE WAS ABOUT SAME AGE AS I AM. AGAIN HUGE THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING AND PLEASE YES UPLOAD OUR ART ON THE WEBSITE. HUGS TO YOU AND ALL ANDRE FANS FROM, LILLY AND CATS AND MRS DANON MY DEAR AUNT.

If you would like to see some of the other work Lilly has done, you can go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/siamesecat


Thank You to Chris T. for the work she did to bring this little story to us!

How Does Rieu and Company Rehearse?

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ON THE ROAD TO SOUTH AFRICA

Troskompas April, 2010

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How André Rieu and his orchestra prepare for the South African concerts becomes clear in the new road soap which starts on Friday, April 23rd. How does a normal week day take place for this musical group? Troskompas was there during the rehearsals.

On a Monday morning Troskompas arrives at the André Rieu studios located in an industrial area in Maastricht. At this hour it is about 9 AM, we don't hear any musical notes yet since the rehearsal time for the orchestra is 9:30 AM. Still it is rather crowded inside, all of the orchestra members are already there.

"Most of them are here at 8.30 AM, because they like to talk to their colleagues", says Kerstin Cornelis, André's P.R. manager. "André thinks that a good atmosphere in the orchestra is very important. That's why the complete group always departs together from the studios to start on a tour, whether it is a trip to Amsterdam or to Australia."

It is almost 9.30 AM and the orchestra members move into the studio where they'll do the rehearsals. The room is big, but cozy. There are a few pieces of scenery around and from the ceiling hang decorative lamps. André takes place behind his music stand and greets the musicians who are tuning their instruments. Today, amongst others, pieces of music will be recorded for the new CD "Songs for my Mum." (Since then we know that Title has been changed to "You Raise Me Up")
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Listening With a Critical Ear
The orchestra starts with the cheerful "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from the musical “Mary Poppins” (which recently celebrated its European premiere in the Netherlands). In the control room technicians handle the big mixing consoles. After the orchestra played this piece twice, André goes into the control room to listen to the recording in a critical manner. The end of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" did not meet with his approval. "Am I strict? Yes, but in a likable sort of way! If I would tell my orchestra members off, they would run away and never come back" he says laughingly.

A One Hundred Percent Effort
"André is not too strict in a sense, but he is a perfectionist", says cello player Tanja (37) a little bit later. "Everything has to be correct to within the smallest details. He commits himself 100% and that's what he also expects from his orchestra members. Tanja has been a member of the orchestra for 13 years and never wants to leave. The mutual atmosphere, the performances for enthusiastic audiences and the travelling make it a dream job", she explains while preparing herself to go across to the other side of the street to the child care center set up by André, where her son is being cared for while she and the orchestra are rehearsing. "Very handy! Now I don't need to drive all over to drop off or pick up my child".

Different Nationalities
In the meantime lunchtime has arrived. Violinist Frank (39) walks to the canteen to get a sandwich. "Only one evening in my life have I been without work! The day after I finished my musical education André called me and offered me a job. I have been playing in his orchestra now for 16 years. Frank also speaks highly about the mutual atmosphere between the musicians. "It is one great group of friends. That way we always take a little bit of "home" with us on tour. The nice thing is that we do have a lot of nationalities in the orchestra. The new members speak fluent Dutch within three months and are completely integrated. They do not need Dutch orientation courses at all.” One of the foreign musicians is Boris (64) from Russia, who has been a member of the orchestra for 9 years. “What do I like about this job? I can play the kind of music I love".

Three Hours of Playing
The lunch break is almost finished. Near the percussionists, we meet Glenn (18). "As a 15 year old, I was already performing on stage with the orchestra during the summer concerts, and a little over a year ago I came here on a permanent basis", he says. He grew up with Rieu's music, Father Marcel (44) has been a member of the orchestra already for 20 years, also as a percussionist. Says Marcel, "I would not like to play with another orchestra. Previously I played in symphony orchestras, which meant a lot of waiting and counting. With Rieu, I am on stage for three hours, I also play three hours, and that is much more interesting".

Never a Vacation
When the rehearsal continues, Kimmy, a South African songstress who will be part of the tour in South Africa arrives in the studios. "Last night we already practiced a little together. I was brought to tears by her beautiful voice", says André to the orchestra members. Kimmy will rehearse later on this week with the orchestra. But first the pieces for "Songs For My Mum" are up, including one of them which is a "Heintje" classic, named "Mama". (Heintje, aka Hein Simons is a well known Dutch singer who at a very young age captured most of Europe with his wonderful voice.) Again it is recorded, listened to, and so it goes for a while, along with a lot of other pieces.

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Around 12.30 PM the rehearsals are finished and the orchestra members return home. But not André, he still has a lot of items on his agenda. "Later on I have a meeting with a producer for a TV "Special" in Germany. Afterwards the choir will come to the studios to record the vocals for the new CD and tonight we are going to rehearse with Kimmy". The rest of the week is also fairly well filled up for the violinist and orchestra leader. And before he and his orchestra depart for South Africa, there is still a short tour to England.
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"You ask whether I ever have a need for a vacation. The nice thing is that I do not consider my work as work since that is what I love to do most of all, so I do not need a vacation. Indeed I think I would be very, very bored!"

Thanks to Ineke for sending this article to us and John and Ineke for ©Translating it.

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From Your Harmony Parlor Hosts Sue and John
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.The Harmony Parlor began back in August of 2007 as Fansite for 'Current News' of André Rieu, his Johann Strauss Orchestra and Singers and is run by your hosts, Sue Berry and John deJong. Here is a little background history about The Parlor and how it evolved to what it has become today ...

Within those first weeks in August, John joined me and together John and I have worked hard to make it a site where all English speaking fans from around the world can come and read the best of the most current news there is on all things André ...

John who lives in California, is originally from the Netherlands (and also lived in Germany) finds most of our European news and does all the translations of Dutch and German news into English for The Parlor. Running an American Fansite, for a Dutch violinist would just not work without Johns' Translations.

The Parlor has grown from those first weeks back in 2007 of a few hundred hits a day to the current status of 2,000 to 5,000+ hits a day from all over the world, depending on what André is doing and where he is performing. Not too bad for what started out as a little blog about the man with a violin. :)

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We want to thank the fans from around the world who send us their photos and concert experiences, another feature that without them, the Parlor would not be what it is.

Then there are our good friends ... Ineke and Ruud in Holland with their Movie Site and Jann in Australia with her Aussie Fansite. These three sites have worked hand in hand ... together we have created a circle of the best and most up to the minute news of André Rieu for all English speaking fans.

The Parlor is here for all to enjoy and we only ask that you respectfully do not remove photos posted that have been sent to us by fans, our graphics, or John's Translated Articles which are copyrighted, without our permission.

John and Sue ~ Your Hosts of The Harmony Parlor

Alice’s Novel

André and Friends in Vancouver

CAUTION (again?) This One Isn't Much Shorter Than The Ottawa Novel as It’s Not Just About The Concert.

Vancouver was not on the tour map in 2008, but I certainly won’t forget my experience for 2009. It might seem complicated so please bear with me.

Background Info:
To rewind the story a little bit, I bought my tickets once they’re released last October. Several months ago Mrs. Ed (it’s a nick name of Edwina) from Australia said she’d be coming to Vancouver with her husband. We finally met for the first time Apr 30, and I got an extra big hug from Jann. The couple was off to Alaska for 35 days.

The price of a VIP package excluding ticket dropped from USD1500 to USD1250. I got some tax refund and was thinking back and forth and decided to go for it. Deadline was May 12, I’d been waiting for the US dollar to drop so I could save a lunch or two. I even had my order form filled out with credit card number but didn’t get full details from ticketing office so I never sent it. I just couldn’t figure out a proper way for my parents and friends to get to the concert venue and to get home. I’d also have to leave work much earlier if I was going to a sound-check, so I finally had to give up the chance of meeting our dearest André and have a photo taken. Oh well!! Maybe I’ll see him in Australia and have a photo taken for free?? Dreaming ...
To celebrate André’s 30th Anniversary of delivering beautiful music, I custom-made a Canada stamp sheet which I wanted to give him as a souvenir from Canada. I was very surprised to read from the Parlor, just 2 days after I received the stamps, that the Netherlands would have André stamps available in July, so my Canada stamps hatched a little earlier.

So now that I’ve saved over a thousand dollars, I could spend it in some other ways. I wanted to get some souvenirs for the whole André crew but didn’t know what’s proper. They still need to travel, so it has to be light and small, but then I wasn’t sure how many people there were. I finally decided to get those breathing puppies that I sent to Pierre last year. I bought 3 different puppies as their travelling companion in US/Canada tour. A Pug, a St. Bernard and a Chihuahua, and I named them RIEU 1, RIEU 2 and RIEU 3.

More friends bought tickets for the concert since some good seats were released last week, but when the Row 1 seats were released for just $159 each, I wish I had more friends. My S.O.S. message in the guestbook attracted at least one fan. Beate flew over from Germany just to see this concert (and she was already so fast in sending Sue some pics). THANK YOU BEATE!

June 12, The Concert Day
We got there at 7pm and checked out the "boutique" first. I bought a 30th anniversary T-shirt and Tour books. We’re on the floor and had seats in Row 15. As soon as we got to our seats, I needed to find someone to receive my "André souvenirs": the stamps, the 3 puppies, and a few more gifts. I worked for some gala concerts before at the same venue so I knew my way quite well. I walked towards the backstage area….and guess who I first talked to??? Mr. Bodyguard Johann!! He kindly helped me bring all the gifts to André and when I later talked to him again, "Are they real stamps? How is that possible?" he asked. (Yep! Those are real stamps, Johann, they can be used as domestic postage). I’ll just say Johann is a very nice and helpful guy, but I won’t say much more, otherwise, this poor guy needs his own bodyguard pretty soon. (THANK YOU, JOHANN!!)

Several fans came over to say hello. Cindie, whom I first met in Toronto, brought along 5 of her 8 children (did I get it right, Cindie?). What a potential musical family! That familiar face from Germany came over as well, so we took a picture. When Beate told me she’s going back to Germany the next day, I thought "What? You’re here just for the concert? WHOW" You fans are amazing!!
A few more guestbook visitors came to say hello and I’d like to thank them all. It’s funny, I was like a mother giving away her daughter at a wedding banquet and friends came to congratulate me. My dad, my friend and myself were giving away those 450 little flags and guess who’s there taking pictures of us "in action"? Mr. "Still-Don’t-Know-What-Name" security guard. I saw him 3 times already and I wish I knew his name by now, but "Sorry!" (at least I saw him smile this year!) One audience member asked "Excuse me, do you know who won the hockey bla bla bla…?" I said "I don’t care about hockey, I only care about André!" and we all laughed! I got many questions before while giving out the flags: where did you get that T-shirt? Is there an intermission? Is there a washroom on this level? Are those flowers real? Can someone turn up the air conditioning?

It was 7:59pm, Mrs. Ed and Jeff were waving at me from the side section (row 20 ??) so I ran up to them. As soon as I began to talk, the 76 Trombones started. When they say they start at 8pm, they really mean they start at 8pm SHARP, every time! I had to wait for the traffic light while all the orchestra members marched in. Luckily the 76 Trombones was still on when I got back to my seat and reached for my camera.

It was a very pleasant entry with some enthusiastic audiences waving the flags. Though it’s nothing compared to the Ajax game, I still hoped they would help boost everyone’s spirit!

Although I expected the program to be the same, and it was, as the Ottawa one which Al Girard shared on the Parlor in April, it’s still different to experience it all in person. It’s entertaining to hear André’s "jokes", it’s fun watching Cord taking Polaroids (Beate got 1 out of the … 10??) while André posed nicely, though there’s no way the little pictures ever reached Row 15, at least I got a bonus as the bull stepped on my foot when trying to "smell" or "kiss" the woman in front of me!!

The Three Tenors get better and better every year, Carla’s voice in the Doll Song was even more amazing than before, Mirusia was singing with all her happy soul, Kalki was pretty impressive too. Ruud’s not there, so it’s probably his turn babysitting at home while Lin goes on tour. No Frank, no Kremi, 6 girls in choir. Not too many standing ovations, just a few, but the applauses were quite loud and extended, so I’d say the response was not bad at all. I found it a much more enthusiastic crowd than that in 2007.

During intermission, I ran up to the 300 level to meet my friend on wheelchair and her mom thanked me again for introducing André’s music to her. After a little chat, I had to go to the restroom. I then went down to the floor and then ran up to Mrs. Ed again on the opposite side of the arena since I still hadn’t got a chance to talk to her yet. I did more running in those 20 minutes than I normally did in a whole month.

During encores, me and my dad were holding up some banners. It was sooo warm I could already smell my underarms and so I didn’t dare to put up my hands too high at first. It took André sometime to turn his head to where I was standing and when he did see us, I think he was looking at me for some 6 seconds if not 8 (well, I just assume he’s looking at me and not the banners).

It’s packed in front of the stage but I tried to find my way towards the middle. If salmon swims upstream, so could I …. I was finally standing right in front of HIM. He started to play Lullaby and I said to the woman next to me "We HATE Lullaby!" ‘cos it’s always the real ending! No more 1,2,3,4,5. No more what shall we do. No more you go home, I go drink. THAT’S IT!

Hey! But we could still wait for André’s autograph at the bus. We’re lucky! Weather was very nice, a little breeze without rain, about 14 people there waiting and we waited for about 50 min. I got an autograph and Mrs. Ed got her Live in Australia CD signed. He only signed a few and then had to leave. I got mine! YES!!!

Okay, folks, guess that’s it, no more! But here comes my surprise again! Suddenly a pretty girl popped up right in front of me. I was hugging her and screaming so loud those people on the other side of the street could probably hear me. It was Mirusia walking over to me to thank me for the gift I gave her. It was so nice of her as she was in a hurry already. Kerstin came by to thank me as well as I had something for her little princess. We’re all so happy to see these friendly people and certainly a nice bonus for a grand finale.

Time to say goodbye to Beate who’d be taking the flight back to Germany the following afternoon. I told Mrs. Ed that I’d be picking her up in the morning.

June 13, an Emergency Change in Plans!

I picked up Mrs. Ed at 11:00am in a hotel downtown, just a block around General Motors Place. They had a midnight flight for Australia. I intended to bring them to a late lunch after a bit sight-seeing of Vancouver. I drove by where I used to work and was just telling them that Ruth and Bobbie came here too in 2007. While we’re still talking, suddenly Mrs. Ed held up her hand and pointed "Look! The bus!!" (and she sounded as if she needed an oxygen mask). MY GOD! What kind of timing is this? If I wasn’t picking them up at that time, and wasn’t taking them to where I thought we’re going, we wouldn’t be at the same intersection as the RIEU buses. We’re heading east to west, while the buses were going north to south. We saw a RIEU bus waiting at the red light on our right side and we waved while proceeding at our green light. The driver probably thought "Who (the heck) was that?" While we’re still trying to believe what we just saw, I said "Shall we follow them (to wave goodbye)?" "That’s a good idea!" said Mrs. Ed. I then turned at the next light as I was confident that I could catch up with them. Yep! We drove by all 3 RIEU buses and after a traffic light, I was in front of RIEU 1, i.e. with Taanda watching the back of our car, with the André bumper sticker (on the rear window) and A RIEU plate. I asked the Aussies "Have you been to White Rock" Jeff said "No", Mrs. Ed asked "Where’s White Rock", Jeff remembered "That’s the border". Okay, we have a slight change in our itinerary, let’s go to White Rock". The Aussie woman said "I like that slight change". Someone waved from the bus too but since the window was tinted we couldn’t see who it was. We can’t explain how we got into this luck in timing but it’s for real. The buses and our car were like Twitter, I follow you, you follow me.

We saw from the rear mirror a man in dress shirt with a tie sitting right behind driver’s seat, so we figured it must be André. Sorry André if we scared you and the drivers, but we didn’t plan on stalking you for 35km, we just got toooo excited and wanted to "escort" you and made sure you’re all fine J. Mrs. Ed had a balloon from the concert but didn’t want to poke it in the hotel as she thought it’d be too noisy (in case it’s mistaken for gunshot??) so we still had it in the car.

When the RIEU Buses came near the exit for all buses/trucks crossing the border, we drove by them, honking at each RIEU bus and waved goodbye (I seldom honk but there were no other vehicles then so guess it’s okay.) Jeff saw Taanda laughing as Jeff waved his blue balloon at her bus. Oh! What a day! We thought we were in heaven at the concert night and just when we came down we’re sent up there again!
We did go to White Rock eventually and we went to a few other places as well. The Aussies arrived safely at the Vancouver airport and would be busy preparing her side of the story and pics when they get home! ... Alice

This was a long one Alice and I LOVED it!! Hope those "Bumps" are feeling better now!! ;-)