Exclusive Interview With André Rieu Tenor Bela Mavrak

This English ©Translation was done at the request of Bela Mavrak through his friend Sigrun and may not be copied without written authorization of the translators John and Ineke

With his voice he not only impressed Lord Yehudi Menuhin once, but recently had the Star Magicians Siegfried & Roy follow him emotionally into his dressing room in order to get to know him on an even more personal basis.

His trademark, his passion and a hearty vibrato within a penetrating voice. We're talking about Star tenor Bela Mavrak. Since master violinist André Rieu discovered the Hungarian born Cologne resident and presented him to a global audience, his time at home has become rare and precious

A few rare moments in the adopted home of Bela Mavrak were dedicated to journalist *Michaela Boland. Whatever connects the star tenor to the successful Maastricht violinist with the bobbing hair, or when he pushes into West Papua to a cannibal tribe, or for whatever reason, he has a weakness for fancy footwear with eyes and what Gianni Versace's violent death did to him, he told Boland in this interview.

Portrait Of The Month, Bela Mavrak by Michaela Boland

Bela Mavrak is visibly proud of his brand new cappuccino machine, which fits perfectly into the overall picture of the bright red designer painted kitchen. The tenor of Hungarian origin is at home in his spacious completely renovated apartment that's near the Cologne Music Conservatory. Unusual Tibetan living room furniture, which is reminiscent of the simplest of comforts of East Asian tribes, can be found there. In the dining room, ornate black lacquer chairs from the time of Napoleon III with seats covered in designer fabrics, and in the living room many exotic busts. Deities from Cambodia, Indonesia, West Papua and New Guinea, can be found everywhere.
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"I brought something from every country I have visited", tells the 43-year old opera singer. But the one Cambodian head I have, I bought precautionarily in Cologne, since it is 1000 years old and for which I probably would have been sent to prison for life had I brought him from Cambodia.

The home of the Cologne bachelor is meticulously clean, a homy fire burns in the modern glass fireplace and a pleasant, autumn scent lingers in all the rooms. Noticable: The many images of the Medusa (Greek Mythology figurine. Once a beautiful daughter of two sea gods, now transformed by the angry Pallas Athena as a winged monster with snake hair, armor, long canine teeth and glowing eyes which could turn everyone into stone as a protection against their enemies), which in Bela Mavrak's home seem to appear commonly. A Medusa adorns the entry hall above the front door and a giant replica of the Greek Gorgon has been artfully incorporated into the elaborate marble floor of his luxurious bathroom ... there are many other medusa's to be found on sofa cushions or murals throughout the apartment.

"What is the significance of this figurine to you," I wanted to know. "It's difficult to explain, just like Goethe, the Medusa also has a great fascination. Just like on July 15, 1997 in Miami Beach when fashion creator Gianni Versace was shot. It's just simply a mystical face" explains the opera star.

Interestingly ... the fact that Mavrak allowed himself once in his younger years to invest 160, DM for a tie by the famous Italian designer Versace, even though it was almost the student's entire monthly rent for his meager eight square meter room. Very uncanny, only half an hour later, while he was visiting his voice teacher, and as evidenced by the data indicated on the receipt, the purchase of the Gianni Versace tie was exactly the same minute that the world famous Fashion designer was killed by an assasin. Pattern of the garment in question ... a Medusa image.

Significance: in the world of the Italian designer the symbol of Medusa reflects throughout his designs, and they are decorated with ornaments of this typical Greek style . The choice, which sometimes has a fatal fascination, is very evident in that house of Fashion: A type of Beauty and simplicity that captivates and confuses. "It is almost as if someone surrendered the Versace held Medusa fascination to me the minute he died, because ever since I bought that tie, I too have been deeply impressed by this symbol," recalls Bela Mavrak.

When the opera star, who for the last four years now travels as a guest tenor with André Rieu and performs 110 concerts a year throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas, had won the the Gold Medal first prize at the International Singing Competition in Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy, a man came to him backstage and congratulated him warmly, praising him for his good Italian pronunciation ... That man apparently did not know that Mavrak was Hungarian, although every one else knew that the budding star was not Italian. Mavrak had won the competition with an aria from Puccini's "La Boheme". The the man had disappeared. Later the festival director asked Mavrak if he had recognized the "mysterious" admirer.It was Gianni Versace, and Bela Mavrak, who at that time due to his income, had not yet entered the league of "I wear Versace outfits", was visibly embarrassed for not having recognized the world famous fashion designer.

It was the result of countless radio, television and CD recordings of Rossini's "Petite Messe Solennelle", "Vivaldi's Magnificat "and the world premiere of "In Exitu Israel" and "Dixit Dominus" by Marianna Martinez with the Cologne Philharmonic that Bela Mavrak could make himself be noticed.

In 1994 in Bonn he debuted with the Philharmonic Hungarcia in Verdis "Requiem".With his tenor part as experience, a year later he performed in the Teatro Colon, in Buenos Aires and the Teatro Municipal, in Sao Paolo before landing the lead role in "Damnation of Faust" (Hector Berlioz) in the Salzburg Festivities Hall.

From 1998 to 2000 Mavrak worked as a soloist in the German National Theater, in Weimar, where he sang in ten different opera roles. For instance, in 1999 during the Goethe year when Weimar had been designated as the Cultural Capital, he played a role in "Margarete" as well as in "Damnation" both by Faust.

Due to his exceptional tenor voice, Mavrak's voice has been described by the press as "lyrically supple, smoothly run and resonant." Today the Opera singer is happy about that, and really by chance, he can do exactly what he has always wanted to do.

At the beginning of his training, no one would have thought that on April 7, 1966 in Baden (near Vienna) Hungarian born son of two school teachers, was at the request of his father, once trained as a medical technical assistant."My strict father's wish was for me to become a doctor. In the small village called St. Michael, where within the Woywodinas (today's northern Yugoslavia) I was growing up, there was only one female doctor ... namely, the sister of my mother. "Since her only son, my cousin, was studying computer science, I should, in accordance with my Father's will, one day be her successor," remembers Mavrak. The requirement naturally, would have been for me to again enroll in another Medical School.

But, it all turned out quite differently. Bela's mother organized cultural folk dance groups in her spare time and was involved in Cultural Interest groups within the surrounding area. In one of these organizations, a well known music professor by the name of Bursac, who worked as a conductor in Belgrade, said that "After he had heard my voice, he stood firm by his decision, that I should be a Singer," which Bela Mavrak still remembers precisely. At first, the current world famous Star Tenor could not imagine this all.

During his military service Mavrak benefited from the fact that a military band was looking for a keyboard player. Since Bela had already had piano lessons during his elementary school days, (he was really glad to have left the annoying practice lessons behind) he now made use of his skills. "After several auditions, they selected me, since I had mastered a whole bunch of styles. Classics as well as rock and pop. This made my life during military service a lot easier since I was able to again spend time practicing and playing in hotels "explains the Cologne resident. While still in the Army, Bela Mavrak even began to practice with small self compositions. Since he was not too sure and not mature enough yet to put his melodies professionally on paper, he turned again after his military service to Professor Bursac to learn from him notations of compositions.

"Bursac placed one condition on the deal, and that was that I would sing in the choir directed by him," confirmed Mavrak, "and then, one time when I was sitting at the piano and had sung something, he suddenly stood up and without my knowledge called a Belgrade School of Music singing teacher and informed him that he had a new student for him. Then Bursac announced that I would be a singer and lamented about it for so long that he had me convinced.

Mavrak's father had emphatically warned his son of the uncertainties of a career as a singer. He had built a huge Mediterranean style estate, with the hope that his son would one day take up the desired medical career, take over his Aunt's Medical Practice in the village and move into that property and live there with the desired future grandchildren."But now, unfortunately, my parents live alone in that big house, since I have no siblings. This has now become a problem in winter when it is cold. Then they have to close everything up and live in only two rooms, since it is unreasonable to heat such a large house the entire winter.

Today, his 68 year old father is extremely proud of his world famous son. His mother (67) was from the very beginning more liberal about the entire idea.

Bela Mavrak has actually always been a rock fan who idolized Pink Floyd and when he started his singing career, he had never even seen a single opera. The man with jet-black hair and bright blue eyes thought that disco music songs like "Hands up, baby Hands up" or danceable pieces of ABBA or BONEY M. during the disco era were rather boring. He has, however, always been interested in the complicated arrangements of symphonic's or Psychedelic Rock. Groups like 'Genesis' or 'Yes' had earlier developed his taste in music and after having been there, he now recognizes a bridge to the Classics.

The ladies are always ahead of their peers when it comes to the more challenging music. That is why Mavrak has always surrounded himself with friends who on an average are four years older. "With young people a four year age difference is almost like an entire generation. The people in my age group only listen to trendy music," reports Mavrak.

After the conductor and choirmaster Bursac had accomendated Bela Mavrak at the Belgrade Academy of Music, the Hungarian studied there for two and a half years before one day in 1991 he paid his uncle, a musician, a visit. Uncle Joe Lukenich lived for almost 50 years in Dueren. During this period of time, the conflict between the Serbs and Croatians already existed in Yugoslavia. "Although at that time I could not fathom that a war would lie ahead, I felt that I was Hungarian, and that with the political conflict which occurred between the communities, I had actually had nothing to do with, simply nothing at all," remembers Mavrak as though it were like yesterday.

Uncle Lukenich, also a musician and co-founder of Duerener saxophone and clarinet division of the School of Music, strongly suggested to his nephew to simply change to the renowned Cologne Music College in Germany ... but unfortunatley the registration deadline closed six months previously, as Mavrak by chance and without knowing it, showed up on the very last day of the exam in the Cathedral City. Of course no one wanted to listen to him, but spoke briefly with him and advised him what he should study for the following year's exams.

Perseverance can often prove itself to be beneficial in an overly bureaucratic Germany, which the Magyar would learn first hand. The competent and Pro Rector Professor, Wilfried Jochims, who had been asked by the singer for so long to listen to him, finally lent Bela his ear, despite the fact that more timely notified examinees were waiting in the hall. "Then I sang something in a room to the professor out of" La Boheme and the unbelievable happened." The professor seemed so obviously thrilled that he decided to take Mavrak on immediately, shoved the Hungarian simply somewhere between two other candidates and smuggled him in before the examining board in the auditorium.

At this point, the professor first apologized before the entire Examining Board to present some one to the board at such short notice, some one who could not even speak German, since proficiency in that language was for Bela still a long way off. As security, the professor promised that the young man from the Balkans would be taught German as soon as possible. After that, Mavrak would once again sing before the entire Examining Board, and he was "in".

Since Mavrak now lives in Cologne he not only got to know the city, but also learned to love it. "I love the mentality of Cologne. Just like us Hungarians they also are a spirited people. The Cologne citizens are not typically German, but are open and funny, especially when it comes to jokes about their beloved Carnival, which shows that they are enthusiastic about their crazy ways. I now have so many friends and acquaintances here, that this has become the center point of my life. The Cologne people have long accepted me as a Cologne Citizen, it's just wonderful. "

After Bela Mavrak received his Artistic Diploma from the Cologne Conservatory, he received private lessons from the world famous Milanese tenor Franco Corelli, as well as master courses from the Italian opera tenor Gianni Raimondi and the Swedish tenor Nicolai Gedda. "I'm moreso an Italian lyric tenor, than just a sound effects man" explains the singer. "If you want to learn to sing properly the way Pavarotti did, you have to go to Italy, because you can not learn that here," he explains further. When asked which of the well known Tenors he admires, Mavrak replied, "For me, Pavarotti has been unbeatable, since the clear sound of his voice and his perfections blended wonderfully".

What is lacking now, is the right companion at his side, and a family of his own, of which he has always dreamed of. "Most women like to have a man at their side, to always be there at home when he is needed. First of all, I can of course not always be there and I need someone who can accept and understand that. Secondly, it is not easy to find someone who likes all the things I love. It is difficult, " analyzes the tenor, who in the meantime has become a German citizen. "My problem is that I am not willing to completely give up my freedom, because then I probably would not be who I am".

In any case, the future will probably be shared with his passion for adventurous travels. Bela Mavrak puts little faith in the Papal travels to the mass tourist areas, but likes to travel in the spirit of Indiana Jones, trips to places such as Borneo, Sumatra, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, the Congo and Tibet are undisputed. And here too, the likeable Star Tenor is not contemptuous of the somewhat dirty travel guides swinging through the area, but is only too happy at times to fight for days on foot through the jungle.

Only once did he make a trip to the same country twice, Papua New Guinea. The western half of Papua New Guinea is part of Indonesia, and has a special interest to the Singer, who as a child always wanted to be an archeologist and discover ruins, temples, hidden treasures or even cultures. Here he had the opportunity to study the cultures of the Kombai and Korowai .The Korowai go around naked, except for their genitals, through the wilderness, and build their homes 30 to 40 meters high in the tree tops, where Bela Mavrak spent the nights when he visited the tribe.

When the singer speaks about his travels, the enthusiasm and great passion for this hobby can be heard in his voice."The Kombai," he continues, "are one of the last Cannibal Tribes. And I want you to know, I felt very comfortable there. People assume that you just may die there. So, when an accident happens, they suspect that malicious spirits from another tribe are behind it. So the Shaman is sent out to search for the person responsible for this bad luck." He is killed and every tribe member eats his flesh. Only then can they consider that the "Bad" may indeed finally be dead."

In the hope that Bela Mavrak would not become guilty with the Kombai, I asked him about the discovery of his own tribe."Those were the Shem" he explained proudly. It was a difficult expedition, and for days Bela, five porters and a guide trotted through the rivers and dense jungle, when unexpectedly, they came upon a kind of extended family residing in an inaccessible area. "At a glance the people of West Papua resemble the Australian Aborigines. They live as gatherers, hunters, are like jungle nomads and only build temporary houses. Moving from place to place are therefore hard to find."

The conversation with the rather small men was carried out with a woman who had met the singer during a previous expedition and was from another tribe.
15 years ago she escaped from the Shem tribe but was still able to converse in their language. "How do you approach such people," I asked."With the help of this woman, I first sent gifts to the tribe," says Bela Mavrak. "It is best to give these people natural things, such as salt, tobacco and meat." Apparently, the mood in such situations seems to be quite good.

On previous trips, the Star Tenor had already met other tribes, Mountain Pygmee groups living at 3000 m (9000ft) altitude and on average are 1.4m (4ft, 7in) tall, as well as Dani, Yali and Lanis tribes. He has sung for them as well, "through singing you can form close friendships, even if you do not speak their language", says Mavrak. After the tenor had sung to them, these people were assured and assumed that Bela did not constitute a danger to them. A fervent "O Sole Mio" has already melted so many in our latitudes. ►Click Here to View Video
The many recordings and experiences, which he has gathered in the jungles, may perhaps someday be made public. In any case, he says he needs these trips as compensation for his high standards of living while on the road, so that he will not lose focus of himself nor his life.

When his next expedition into the unknown will occur, is not yet known. Firstly, he will be touring with two other tenors, Gary Bennett and Thomas Greuel, together with André Rieu through France. "We will first go to Marseille, then shows in Paris and Bordeaux".

Mavrak gets along extremely well with the star violinist André Rieu. "I travel with him from one place to another, we fly together, eat together, we are together on stage, and celebrate birthdays together. I am sure he likes me quite a lot, since I am a crazy and extravagant person and also fit in very well with his show. What is particularly fascinating is the fact that we as the three Platin Tenors have never in more than 400 concerts canceled or reneged. That is almost impossible for Tenors. "

"What do you see are the advantages of working with Andre Rieu," I ask. "The advantages are that you sing before 30,000 to 40,000 people. We have direct contact with the people. If you play a role in an opera, you are imprisoned by it and cannot look into the eyes of your audience. Due to the requirements of your role, there is a sort of barrier, and therefore you are not free. During performances with André Rieu, I sing for the audience and can be pro active with my eyes and am able to display expressions. Many fans say it's like mass hypnosis. The eyes speak to the people and they feel better connected as if they are part of the "show family". People go home happy and what more could you want?

The flamboyant Star Tenor likes to have as many unusual shoes as Carry Bradshaw, (Sex in The City) but being an Indiana Jones fan he has about 70 pairs of snakeskin and crocodile leather shoes.

The Christmas Holidays will be spent by the tenor with his parents, and New Year's will again mean, "Waltz Free" with André Rieu at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne.

The Motto of Tenor Bela Mavrak certainly seems more than appropriate, if one considers the number of his enthusiastic music fans:

"He Who Quite Understands Singing is King of All Hearts."

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* This Interview was Written by Journalist Michaela Boland Shown Here With Bela

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Photos of Roos With Little Lowieke by Ineke

Roos and Tanja's little boy Lowieke, 13 months now was at the

New Years Day Concert in Cologne.

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At the Concert André Announced that Leon van Wijk and Lara Meuleman

are a couple now and they are expecting a new JSO baby soon!

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Hanne's Photos Showing Highlights Of 2010 New Year Concert

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Tanja's Solo Performance

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Manoe's Solo Performance

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"Black Ties, Red Carpets, Green Rooms"
Chapter From Richard Wilkins' Book on André Rieu
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Richard Wilkins (Channel Nine's entertainment editor and the original face of MTV Australia) interviewed the greatest stars of the world. This book is a collection of his favorite, most interesting and strangest star encounters. Here is the chapter about André Rieu.

André Rieu: Matilda in Maastricht

"Rack off, you bloody drongo!" "What? What is this you say?" The Dutch Maestro was looking at me with an odd expression of his face.

"Rack off. You. Bloody. Drongo" I said in a more pronounced fashion, as if that would explain everything. "What does this Rack off mean?"

"It means.... Um, I dunno, go away" "And what is a bloody drango?" "Drongo" I said, correcting him, and struggling through my mental encyclopedia of Australian slang. "Ah well, I guess a bloody drongo is a fucking idiot".

OK, I know it is not an expression we use every day, but when a foreigner says to me: "Teach me some Australian slag. What's an Australian expression?" I always use that one. That conversation took place on the Riverbank in Brisbane, when I first met André Rieu. To be honest, he'd really come onto my radar a couple of months beforehand when I'd noticed the phenomenal increase in sales of his DVDs. It was September 2007 and he was making his first trip to Australia to launch the concert tour that was due to hit our shores the following year. In order to beat the crowd – and most importantly, our opposition – I'd decided to fly to Brisbane and meet this guy everyone was talking about. We'd finished the interview and were chatting away when André asked me to teach him something uniquely Australian, something he could use on stage when he came back to tour. Without a second thought, I offered up that quaint piece of "travel advice". He still refers to me as his "Drongo".

Right from the start I liked him enormously. He has a gleam in his eye, a spring in his step and an infectious enthusiasm. The mega-production he was bringing to Australia sounded and looked completely over the top. His full orchestra. A choir, dancers, pipe bands, featured vocalists, all on a humungous stage with two ice-skating rinks. It seemed he was bringing everything, including the kitchen sink. His absolute attention to detail and intimate knowledge of every aspect of, well, everything blew me away. I was impressed by his ambition, his professionalism and his passion for every scintilla of his life and career.

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He'd also done his homework on me, he knew that as a schoolboy, I'd played the violin and did all the exams with either Trinity College or the Royal School of Music in London. I got up to grade eight (qualified enough to teach the thing) while at boarding school. I was quite good at it for a while, first violin in the school orchestra at age twelve, in fact.

Then the Beatles came along and buggered it up. All I really wanted to do from that point on was play guitar or the drums. It's a bit like riding a bike though, you still remember where the fingers go, although they're not quite as fluid these days, that's for sure. Now that I think about it, I did fall off my school bike quite often!

'Yes, André, I did play the violin once upon a time,' I told him. 'We play together some time,' he replied, but I didn't really think much about it. We broadcast the piece, which had turned out really well, a couple of days later. André came across as charming, smart and funny (which he is). He was also still in the country and, having seen it on the Today Show, rang to thank me.

  
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"Why don't you come and see the show I'm bringing to Australia", he said. 'I'd like you to see it for yourself and know what you're talking about.' 'I've seen the video-it looks pretty extraordinary,' I told him. 'Well, come over to Europe. I'll get the record company to send you the itinerary, see what dates work for you and we'll set it up.' 'Very nice. Sounds good. Thanks for that, André.'

In due course I was emailed the dates for his European tour and I looked through them. Leipzig? Nah. Hannover? Nah. Paris? Hmmm, Paris. The date worked and it sounded like an excellent idea. I checked with André and resolved to go to France. I'd be there for my late mother's birthday: 1 September.

'When you get here, see the show in Paris, then come to Maastricht and we'll play violin together.' 'Really?' 'Yes, we will do a duet.' 'What song?' "Waltzing Matilda",' he said, without skipping a beat.

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The ticket arrived and off I went to Paris. I'd arranged for Rebecca to meet me in London and we caught the Eurostar across the Channel, bound for the Hotel George V, which is regularly voted the best in the world. My friend Christopher Norton, who used to run the Four Seasons at Jimbaran Bay in Bali, is now the boss at the George V. Chris was in Bali when the bombs went off. In the months that followed, the tourism industry was decimated and his hotel was hit badly by the huge drop in visitor numbers, as was everyone else's. To his great credit, Chris found a way to keep all the local staff employed right through the downturn. He was at the Georges V when we arrived. Once again, he was running a pretty good ship. The hotel is simply awesome. It's everything the French do best: the service is faultless, the decor breathtaking and the location, between the Champs- Elysees and the river Seine, spectacular. On a very reputable list of the top ten things to do in Paris, the Eiffel Tower comes in at number one, followed by the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, and so on. Number nine is viewing the flowers at the George V. Chris spends millions of euros a year on bringing flowers in from Belgium twice a week and has a rock-star florist, Jeff Leatham, who creates the extraordinary arrangements.

Catching the train to Paris is a huge advantage. There's no schlep in major traffic from the airport and you arrive smack in the middle of the city. We went from the Gare du Nord to the hotel, dumped our bags and headed straight to the Stade de France, where André was performing that night. It was huge and packed to the rafters (actually it's an outdoor stadium with no roof, but you know what I mean).

The show was one of the most spectacular and lavish I've ever seen- water fountains with synchronized displays, André's magnificent Johann Strauss orchestra, a huge choir, dancers, skaters on an ice rink, three spectacular tenors, bagpipes, fireworks, a carriage carrying one of the featured singers.

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Bloody heck, it was impressive, and all of this was built into a massive replica of the Palace Schönbrunn in Vienna, where André had once performed. He liked the palace so much he got his son Pierre, who's his production manager, to build a couple of replicas that were currently leapfrogging around the world.

At the interval, we went backstage to meet him. 'Welcome to Paris, Drongo,' he said, embracing me in a bear hug, then indicating Rebecca: 'And this is your beautiful Mrs. Drongo?' Little did he know I was actually planning to propose to her while we were there.

One of André's rituals is that after every performance he has a big banquet backstage for cast and crew-and with a production that big there are hundreds of them, all hungry and thirsty. Food, drinks, whatever you want, it's all there. André has caterers travelling with him. He is a man who knows what he wants, and I was quickly learning that he is the master of his own universe. He has a great team of people who work with him, but there is never any doubt as to who is the boss. It is a benevolent dictatorship (as Jon Bon Jovi would say).

The wine was the good stuff, the food was exquisite-not the goulash that he makes funny references to during the show-and Rebecca and I stayed there for some time, although I was getting a little wobbly having flown from Sydney to London, then catching the train to Paris before seeing André's three-hour gig. I shot a little bit of vision for the Today Show to show the scale of the production and get a taste of the backstage vibe, then we went off and explored Paris for a couple of days. Oh, and we got engaged!
From the City of Light it was back on the train to Brussels, where we were met by André's driver and taken to the lovely little city of Maastricht in the southern Netherlands. It's a gorgeous spot, which has been fought over and occupied by practically every country in Europe at some point in history.

These days it's no contest: André is the king of the castle. As a young boy he used to stare at the big property at the top end of town and now he owns it. It's where he lives, where his offices are and where I went to meet him to conduct the serious part of our interview about the show I'd just seen.

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He was warm and engaging, friendly and hospitable, and showed me around the castle, including its aviary, the industrial kitchen and the grounds. Talk about classical grandeur!

'OK, tomorrow at ten o'clock you come to my studio,' he said authoritatively. 'We make "Waltzing Matilda" together.' 'What key?' I asked. To be honest I was very rusty on the old violin, not having played seriously for decades. When he said I could choose, I told him G. That's the easiest key to play the fiddle in because you can use lots of open strings and 'double stopping' and you don't have to use your little finger very much. (Sorry if that's all double Dutch to you.)
'OK, Drongo, G it is. Don't be late.'

Rebecca and I presented ourselves the next morning and the orchestra was already there, all sitting in the huge studio that André had custom built on the outskirts of town to rehearse and record his music. He's got edit suites there too, where all his DVDs are produced, and a huge storage area for all the equipment (and Pierre's collection of army, navy and air force stuff, which is quite mind-boggling).
He was responsible for seventeen of the thirty top-selling DVDs in the Australian charts. The guy is a machine, a marketing genius (he hadn't even done a proper tour, for goodness sakes), as I came to see and appreciate in the years to come.

Anyway, there I was, walking in, quite nervously. He had his omnipresent camera crew there, of course. I'd asked him when we were working out the logistics, 'Do I need to bring a crew?' 'No,' he said, as if I'd asked him if we needed to bring our own water. 'We have a camera crew here. We have everything. You just turn up.' In his inimitable Dutch style, he's a can-do guy.

André has a remarkable violin case that holds two instruments. He opened it up and handed me one. 'Is this the Stradivarius?' I asked as he passed it over carefully-referring to the priceless and irreplaceable violin he plays on stage. 'No, no, no,' he replied, 'but don't drop it!' I'm sure this one was also worth a fortune.

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The violin was beautifully tuned, the orchestra had their charts in front of them, which he'd obviously arranged and had drawn up overnight. And it was on. We played 'Waltzing Matilda'. Then we played it again. I thought we were having a couple of practice runs, but then André said, 'Alright that's done. Let's go listen to it.' What? What happened to our rehearsal? 'But I ...'

'No, you were good. I like the way you bend the notes. Your style is different to mine. We work well together.' (The notes would have been bending in all the wrong directions if we hadn't been playing in G!) Rebecca, André, his sound engineer and I went back to the control room with the big, impressive, state-of-the-art recording desk.

It's a very neat, tidy set-up-all white and efficient-looking-with no plaques or gold records hanging on the walls or smelly candles encouraging creativity. In fact, it's no bullshit in that very Dutch way. André played the song back, tweaked it a little, then gave me a copy.

'That's it?' I asked. 'Yeah. It was good, and it'll be a nice piece in your story.' And that was it ... 'Nice job, great to see you. Congratulations. Beautiful girl, lovely ring, have a good trip home. Bye, Drongo.' And he was gone.

André was right. The piece we put together with him, me and the orchestra playing 'Waltzing Matilda' was a big hit on Today. I must admit I was pretty chuffed. A couple of weeks later I was in Hollywood and I thought Karl Stefanovic was geeing me up. 'Mate, we had a call from the National Archives,' he said to me live on air. 'They've requested a copy of your "Waltzing Matilda".' 'Yeah, right.' 'No, truly.'

I've since found out that whenever it's recorded by anyone, a dog could bark it, the National Archives puts a copy away in the vaults. It is a bit of thrill to think I'm in there, though, playing one of the country's favorite songs with André Rieu.

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Of course, André toured Australia with the show I saw in Paris and it was a spectacular success. It sold out around the country and he made a lot of people very happy. One of the reasons I like him, and indeed one of the reasons that he's been so embraced by the public, is that he genuinely enjoys his job. Classical musicians can be a little bit stuffy and have an elitist attitude about what they do. But André just loves it. To him, it's entertainment, theatre, showbiz, not just music. I suspect that some people still dismiss him as a show pony, and no doubt some sections of the classical establishment hate him with a passion because he's actually having fun with this beautiful music - shock horror!

The thing about André is that, yes, he's a fabulous businessman and showman but he's also a great musician, a brilliant violinist. If he wasn't, if he was just an OK player with a lot of front, then he wouldn't have had nearly the same success.

When he played in Brisbane, the folks at Suncorp Stadium asked me to come up and host a VIP experience for the shows. There are obviously some well-heeled André Rieu fans around the world-it's an older crowd with plenty of disposable cash, and they are willing to part with quite a chunk of it to do things in style. The VIP experience involved a limo from their home to the gig, dinner, drinks and meeting André after the show, with me facilitating the whole thing.

It worked a treat and gave us the idea to do it on a national basis on his subsequent tour, which started with a live performance at Federation Square for the Today Show. We weren't sure if we could fit the whole sixty- piece orchestra on the stage and suggested a scaled-down production. The response? 'We are Dutch; we will make it work.' Which, of course, they did.

Capping off the morning for me, André invited me on stage to perform our greatest hit-you guessed it-'Waltzing Matilda'. In the right key, too. It was a blast and right up there with the time Neil Finn dragged me up on stage to sing 'Born to be Wild' with him (I wish I'd had the choice of key that time around!).

On André's 2009 tour and again in 2011, my role was to welcome the hundred VIPs each night just before the show. I'd introduce them to André while he was putting the orchestra, vocalists and, of course, the sound and lighting teams through their paces during sound check.

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It's quite an experience to see and hear André fine-tune (literally) every aspect of the upcoming performance. He's hands on, totally in control and it's impressive to witness first-hand. He has an eye for detail and an ear for perfection.

Then the VIPs have dinner-all the good gear: wine, champagne, top shelf tucker-while André has a catnap. True! He has a bed set up in his dressing room and backstage there are 'QUIET' signs everywhere. There's definitely no bagpipe practice while the boss is having a little kip.

The guests have excellent seats for the show, after which they go backstage to the nightly banquet where they mingle with the crew and have their photograph taken individually with André. He takes his own photographer and color printers on tour with him, so the guests actually finish the night with a photo of themselves and the Dutch maestro. André checks each shot himself to make sure they are perfect-no light reflecting off someone's glasses and no red eyes. If there's a dud photo, he'll redo it. His fastidiousness is quite extraordinary.

Since we started doing the VIP evenings together, André and I have become close friends. I actually shed a little tear as I said farewell to him at the end of the 2009 tour. The couple of weeks I had spent on the road with him were a bit like running away with the circus.

In July 2010, he invited me back to Maastricht to see the show there. When he first started to do well, he thought it would be nice to do a show in his hometown's city square. It's a gorgeous spot, surrounded by magnificent architecture and with cafes-and restaurants on both sides. A lot of other people have used the town square for concerts, but they erect a big fence around the grassed area and put up a big black screen to control the crowd, deter onlookers and maximize profits. André, in his brilliant entrepreneurial fashion, decided not to put the fences up, but to just open the area to everybody. He went to all the restaurants, one by one, and said: "I'm going to sell the ten thousand seats out there on the grass and you can do what you want". The restaurants have another ten thousand seats or so, and he told them they could do their own deals and charge people to go in. The only thing he insisted was that meals were not served while he was playing. He televised that first concert and now does it every year.

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Maastricht looks amazing and it is the most wonderful atmosphere. His instincts were bang-on. In 2010, he did six sold-out nights. The whole city feels alive and open. It's now such a massive event that they have a couple of live sites in other squares around the town. The whole city becomes Andreville. It even has its own set of rituals. Every night André walks from one end of the square, past all the restaurants, his orchestra trailing him, as everyone stands and applauds, then climbs on to the stage and starts playing. The proceedings are recorded by his camera crew, and then edited back at his studio and shipped off around the world.

One day, when he was in Australia on tour, we were having lunch and chatting about stuff. 'Tell me why, at the end of the show, you announce when your next tour is going to be,' I said to him. 'You think that's a little cheeky, huh?' he asked. 'Well, no, but most artists say thanks for coming, hope to see you again some time. You say, "Thanks and I'll be back on 25 August next year".'

'Well, I'll tell you why I do it. I could either spend an amazing amount of money on a marketing campaign in six months' time, or I can preach to the converted while they're there. You know what? Most people appreciate it and they go out and buy a ticket the next day, when they go on sale.' A lot of artists would think that was a bit eager or uncool but André doesn't play by the rules. He's created his own and is reaping the rewards.

He had a problem in 2010 when he contracted a viral infection of the vestibular nerve that made him feel dizzy. It meant he had to cancel some shows, which he really hated doing. He'd played the Royal Variety Performance the year before, and was just about to embark on a sell-out tour of England. That's the next market that's going to crack wide open for him. Then he was due to head here, but was forced to reschedule.

It's great to have him back on his feet again, and his friend Drongo is always glad to see him. When he finally made it to our shores, he appeared on the Today Show and at the Logies, and also invited me to again host the 'A Day With André' experiences during his tour.

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When I sat down with him and some of his key personnel backstage in Adelaide at the beginning of the tour, he asked, 'Hey, Drongo, what was that song you got people to sing for me in Auckland on the last tour?' I had got the VIP crowd to serenade him with one of those rare anthems that all Kiwis know, along with 'Cheryl Moana Marie' and 'Ten Guitars'.

It's called 'Now is the Hour', and it's a traditional song of farewell. As a young boy, I remember standing at the Overseas Passenger Terminal on Princes Wharf in Auckland (where the Rainbow Warrior was sunk) with my late mum and dad and sister Pip, seeing off relatives who were on a voyage to England. As the streamers started flying through the air, then stretching, breaking and cascading down the side of the ship and fluttering in the breeze, everyone was singing. 

'Now is the hour when we must say goodbye, Soon you'll be sailing far across the sea, While you're away, oh please remember me, When you return, you'll find me waiting here.' ... It's a beautiful song, and it's been covered by many artists over the years. It was sung as 'Po Atarau' to the Maori troops as they headed overseas during the First and Second World Wars. It's a piece that has a lot of resonance throughout New Zealand, and when I suggested everyone sing it for André and his crew, it went over a treat.

'Sing it for me, Drongo. Sing me that song.' I did, and at the end André asked his arranger Frank if he'd got it.- 'Yeah, I think I got it,' said Frank, meaning he'd memorized the melody. Brilliant! 'OK, Drongo, you sing that on stage Friday night in Auckland,' André told me, leaving no room for discussion.

Throughout the Australian tour The Seekers had been playing four songs with André 'The Carnival is Over', 'I'll Never Find Another You', 'Georgy Girl' and, of course, the song penned by Bruce Woodley that has school kiddies singing loud and proud throughout the nation, 'I am Australian'. Judith Durham's voice is still amazing, despite her not being in the best of health, and those songs sounded fabulous with the full lush orchestra along for the Morningtown ride.

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André had programmed a reprise of the unofficial Australian national anthem during his finale, but correctly assumed that it wouldn't exactly go down a treat in New Zealand. Hence his suggestion of 'Now is the Hour'. I was incredibly nervous about it, but we gave it a shot at sound check. Sure as eggs, at Vector Arena in Auckland André got me up on stage for the finale and we closed the show with me singing 'Now is the Hour', accompanied enthusiastically by all of the ten thousand Kiwis in the room. ►VIDEO: Richard Singing Now is The Hour With André

It was one of the most thrilling experiences of my life, to be up there on stage in front of a sell-out crowd, backed by a full orchestra brimming with some of the finest musicians in the world. I even pulled a piece of paper out of my pocket and gave the Maori verse a shake. Despite trying really hard, I couldn't memorize the lyrics and I figured it was a lesser sin to read and get them right than attempt to remember them and stuff it up.

André will never know how emotional it was for me, because while it was the perfect song to say goodnight to the crowd and for them to farewell him, the memories of that balmy night in Auckland-me, a small boy on the wharf with Mum, Dad and Pip-came flooding back.

Thank you, André. You gave Drongo quite a blast from the past.

My nickname for him is, of course, Kanga ... Kanga Rieu.

Thanks to Ineke for sending this ...The book was a gift to her from an Australian fan at the June 2012 Fan Dinner

Oman Enjoys Jean Philippe Rieu’s Music

Composer Jean-Philippe Rieu hailing from Eysden, recently performed in Oman. He brought homage to the Sultan, who in turn presented him a very high cultural decoration.

In a few weeks he will return to Oman to personally present his new CD, "Secrets of the Soul" to Sultan Quaboos Al Said. Composer Jean-Philippe Rieu is still under the influence of the concert he recently conducted for a select group of diplomats and governmental representatives in the little Gulf State of Oman.

At the invitation of Dutch Ambassador Stefan van Wersch, the classical musician traveled to the Mid-East. The diplomat, who hails from Maastricht, arranged for the ensemble, consisting of Rieu along with Inge Stallings-Gorissen, violin, Manou Liebert, harp, and for this occasion only, soprano Catharina Marquet, to perform for the personal advisor of the Sultan. "Unfortunately the Sultan himself was not present," reflects Rieu. "On that day he was attending a conference of all Gulf States". With his specially conducted "Ode to the Sultan", Rieu left an indelible impression behind. "I composed it as a tribute to him. His advisor Abdul Aziz bin Mohammed Al-Rowas wanted that music immediately. I will now place it on a CD and in March will present it to Sultan Quaboos Al Said".

After the concert, Rieu received the highest cultural award. "This was of course a complete surprise. In Oman I was treated with lots of love and respect. Art, music and culture are binding factors across the entire world. We, in the Netherlands have become quite intolerant. You could even say disorderly. In that aspect we surely could use the people of Oman as an example". For his performance in the capital city of Muscat, on the eve of the Sultan’s fortieth anniversary, the 52 year old Jean-Philippe Rieu composed a tailor made program. He played his own compositions and works from Vivaldi, Debussy, Salieri and Mozart.

In his tribute "Ode to his Majesty Sultan Quaboos Al Said" he describes the beauty and prosperity which Oman has known for the last forty years, and wishes the Sultan and his people happiness and peace. "Prior going, I had immersed myself deeply into the history of the country. In several decades

Oman went from the Middle-Ages and ended up in the Renaissance. The Sultan ensured that. Illiteracy no longer exists. More than thirty percent of the civil servants are women. Medical care is one of the highest developed cares in the Arabian World. All that information inspired me to write the ode." Rieu is inspired with awe by Oman.

Although he only performed just one concert, he did have the opportunity to see something of this Arabian country. "We were there for ten days, and those days just flew by. Oman is about eight times the size of the Netherlands, and we did go into the countryside and visited the oasis. It was wonderful to experience that. The country is very busy catching up, and Oman has its own symphony orchestra and they are building their own opera house". The presence of Jean-Philippe Rieu in Oman was big news. He conducted several interviews and the newspapers published several stories about him.