William Rutten, photographer of the jet set, added two photos to his exhibition: André Rieu and Jeff Hetfield (Metallica). You can hear his report in the video below. Item from the Dutch TV program “Shownieuws”. Translation by Ineke/John. Subtitles: Ruud.

Article from the TV guide “Troskompas”, from September/October 2024. Item: Photo of the week, by William Rutten. On October 1, 2024, André Rieu turned 75. On that occasion, a lot of attention was paid to him in the press and media. The Tros television guide also showed a festive photo with a congratulation on the cover. As a permanent part of this guide, photographer William Rutten discusses a photo from his collection every week. This week it was of course: André Rieu.

It is March 2010 when I drive to Maastricht with a fully loaded car for a photoshoot with André Rieu. After a good 2.5 hours of driving I arrived at André's practice studio full of good spirits and enthusiasm. The violinist greeted me warmly but also somewhat surprised: "Did we have an appointment today?" Yes, this was really the date that I had received from my client. I called the editors of that magazine and asked if there had been a mistake and that was correct. I was a week early. A typo. André saw my face and asked: "What exactly do you need?" My assignment was to take some work photos of the rehearsal in the studio and a posed photo for the cover. André, polite as he is, immediately said: "Of course I'm not going to send you home now, let's just do it". And so it happened. You understand that he can never do anything wrong with me, what a hero! This week he celebrates his 75th birthday, this hardest working and most popular world star of our country!