Maastricht 2017 concert

Made with XARA Webdesigner

WWW.ANDRERIEUMOVIES.COM

Maastricht 2017 Celebration of the 30th birthday of the Johann Strauss Orchestra.

Images from the first 2017 concert on Thursday July 6th. The first video below is the part before the break, the second after the break. Thanks to Michel Fizzano for creating these images, being behind the scenes and making a live selection of all the 28 cameras images. If you are unable to visit one of the upcoming live concerts in Maastricht, please go to www.andreincinemas.com/ for a cinema near you where you can experience this near live performance.

The many faces of Frédéric Jenniges During the song “G’schichten aus dem Wienerwald”, Frederic has to wait to play his “few notes”. Time enough for some funny faces.

Duration about 1 hour.

Duration about 1,5 hour.

The first concert on Thursday July 8th had a little bit of rain. The audience was very lucky because Maastricht had a thunderstorm in the afternoon, so a little bit of rain was not too bad.

Two Chinese sopranos, Jing Li and Shao Lin, with “Plaisir d’Amour” and “Shanghai Bund”.

This year’s surprise act: David Hasselhoff, American actor and singer, known of series as Bay Watch and Knight Rider with his car named KITT.

We were so happy to see Lin Jong back in the orchestra. Track list: Seventy six trombones - Blaze away - Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald - The Third man - Cielito Lindo - O sole Mio - Dein ist mein ganzes Herz - Hava Nagila Hava - Plaisir d’Amour - Halleluja - Balade pour Adeline - Think of me (Anna) - Csardasfurstin medley - Highland Cathedral - Ah, forse e lui che l’anima (Donij) - Schonen blauen Donau - Oh Fortuna - Encores.

The fireworks this year were extraordinary beautiful.

Another big surprise was to see Sister Leona again! This year she turned 103. Three years ago André visited her on her 100th birthday in the monastery in Maastricht where she lives. Click HERE to watch the visit in 2014.

Stephanie, tap dancing on the piano with Tutti Frutti.

Soloists Anna Majchrzak and Donij van Doorn. Manoe Konings on the bagpipe with “Highland Cathedral”.

Our daughter Irene enjoyed her first André Rieu concert ever. She said: “Once in my life I like to experience the Maastricht madness with my parents….to know why they are so crazy over 13 years…” We think she is hooked now!

Our granddaugter Natascha has always been an André Rieu fan. She has joined us several years in Maastricht. This year she brought her friend Esther.

Our Brazilian friends Angela and Marlene recorded two very interesting videos while waiting in front of the theater steps, prior to the start of a concert. 1. André walks out of the theater together with his younger brother Robert (who lives in Marseille, France).

Sunday July 22nd, heavy rain during the tenth and last concert. It had already been a miracle that the nine earlier concerts had (almost) dry and nice weather. This 10th concert got the dubious honor to become the wettest concert in the Rieu-Maastricht history ever. Bad luck for the audience. Attending an open air concert in the Netherlands is always a risk. We estimate that about 10% of the audience had to leave, because of personal reasons. We were amazed to see that so many people stayed till the very end and the atmosphere was great!!

From the Limburg paper: André Rieu continues to break one record after another in his home town Maastricht. At the celebrated 75th Vrijthof concert, that Saturday night took place in the pouring rain, the 750,000th visitor passed the entrance gates. This milestone was on the account of an English couple from Leeds who also traveled to Maastricht last year for one of the Rieu performances in the open air. Production leader and son Pierre Rieu treated the visibly surprised couple Saturday evening on flowers and a gift check. The personal meeting with the British couple accompanied Rieu with the necessary emotions. "Leeds remains a very special city for us, our Ruud has got his heartbreak there," says Rieu junior. He targets the previous year's deceased trombonist Ruud Merx, one of the pillars of Rieu's Johann Strauss Orchestra.

People in ponchos and with umbrellas, dancing along the terraces.

From another Limburg paper: In the downpour in Maastricht, Rieu's audience was fully hit. Music lovers who had looked forward to a nice evening André Rieu, got a wet surprise. The weather Gods were not favorable to the waltz king and his audience. During the entire show the rain came pouring down. The crowd, who tried to protect themselves against the water with a poncho (provided by André), was fully hit. Rieu tried to keep up the spirit: "I've heard the rain stops….. Tomorrow," the violinist joked. Some visitors had waited for a while, but left the last show of the Vrijthof concert series before the end. Bernd and Ilona Jürgen from Dresden also decided to seek shelter. They had traveled 600 miles specially for the Rieu show. "But this was really too tough. After an hour in the downpour, we just had to leave." Although the rain came pouring down on Saturday night, Rieu said it was no reason for cancellation. "We only cancel if there is a danger to our audience, and that was not the case. Imagine that you have traveled from Sydney to Maastricht especially for the concert, you don't let down because of a few raindrops. By the way: The atmosphere was great, right from the start. It was a fantastic evening. "

Thank you André and crew for all you do for the fans. You looked very energetic and topfit. We love you and we hope to meet you again on the Vrijthof next year!

We like to finish this concert page with Al Girard’s timelapse video of the pre concert situation and the first 20 minutes of the concert, taken from the fourth floor room of hotel DuCasque. The weather conditions went from dry to a downpour.

From Janine Hartley on Facebook, July 25th 2017: “Had the most amazing time in Maastricht this weekend. On Saturday night, after having my ticket scanned to go into the square, we were met by Pierre with a huge bunch of flowers and were told we had won a VIP trip for two for next year, for being the 750,000th person through the gate. How fantastic! As if that wasn't enough, after going to the theatre steps to see André, Pierre spotted us and invited us up to have a picture taken with André! It didn't matter after that, that we were sitting in the rain for the next three hours. Back home now in Leeds, and still on cloud nine!”

2. The way André treats a pushy fan. Friendly but determined.

photo: Laurens Bouvrie.

The Chinese sopranos and Anna visited restaurant “La Chine” (on the Market place), run by the lovely Choy family. On the picture below center: Lily Choy.

In 2015 “La Chine” was awarded as best restaurant of Maastricht. Congratulations Lily and Jane Choy, and family.

We like to finish this page with an impression of what André’s performance does to the fans. The video was made by Angela Caracik during the encores. O my gosh! You suddenly feel 20 years younger attending an André concert!!