De Limburger, by Ronald Colée Saturday, July 5, 2025 Choir singer Bibi Ortjens (29) was pregnant on stage at Vrijthof concert by André Rieu: "With a fat belly, the 'Macarena' dancing didn’t feel really sexy" She is 34 weeks pregnant with her first child. After four Vrijthof performances, choral singer Bibi Ortjens of the Johann Strauss Orchestra would go on maternity leave. It only became one. “It was too heavy. The head wanted to, but the body no longer.” “It really felt like survival.” Bibi Ortjens is working on the last stages of her pregnancy. The Maastricht soprano, since Christmas 2022 choir singer with André Rieu, expects her first child within six weeks. Is it a boy or a girl? She has no idea. “Toine and I are not so much into the gender reveal parties and the baby showers. We really don’t want to know.” At the end of November, Ortjens discovered that she was pregnant. But then, no one was allowed to know. “And that was quite difficult. Because I felt pretty bad. Not that I had to vomit or anything. It felt more like a bad flu had robbed me. I had zero energy, when I am normally very energetic.” For a long time, she could not keep the news to herself. “After seven weeks, during the New Year’s concerts, I told André. He loved it. He is a real “pater familias” and loves babies.” For Ortjens, it felt like a relief. “You are pregnant before you get a big belly. This is something that people often don’t realize. I had trouble pulling my suitcase pretty quickly. And since we travel a lot with the Johann Strauss Orchestra, it was quite difficult. You are actually immediately behind the facts. I found my pregnancy without a fat belly, spicier than with a big belly. Because the outside world does not see that you can use a helping hand.” Breath support One of the positive things she discovered was that technically singing goes very well when you’re pregnant. “I used to sing one sentence on breath support, now there are three. Because your rib cage becomes wider and there will be much more pressure on your abs.” What she had to get used to was that she got eighty uncles and aunts in one fell swoop. “If you have ten colleagues, you still have, but if it’s eighty, it feels like you’re having a birthday every day, you’ll be congratulated all day. And for months. You sometimes also have the need to withdraw and recharge your batteries.” It didn't stop her from continuing touring. “I only missed the three Scandinavian concerts in Herning, Copenhagen, and Stockholm last month, because the travels really started to fall hard.” Vrijthof concerts To skip the Vrijthof concerts did not appear in her. “They are for a Maastricht-girl like me the icing on the cake. Performing in your own city, also the future hometown of your child, in the presence of friends and family, felt very special beforehand. Also, because these concerts are a kind of annual closure for us as musicians. Between a period of hard on your feet and holiday in.” However, it remained at one concert (and the rehearsal the day before) Thursday night. “It was too heavy. The head wanted to, but the body no longer. Then I and André decided to stop further performances.” Although she thought in advance that performing in her own city would also give her the opportunity to take extra rest. “Normally we have to be present with all the women in the orchestra at three o’clock in the afternoon to get makeup and hair done and we always eat together. Now, I did my make-up and hair myself, ate at home and tried to limit all physical activities as much as possible. Then, I only left at seven o'clock in the evening to the Vrijthof. Because the Vrijthof concerts are long concerts, that also start late. It must be dark to make the light effects come into their own better.” The gods of the weather Fortunately, the weather gods Rieu and his orchestra – after a hot start of the week – were well disposed again. “Because if it is thirty degrees outside, it is always a few degrees warmer at the Vrijthof. And then, we as choral singers are also singing under a roof. With these temperatures, it was much better to stand. But physically, it was no longer possible to do.” For that reason, she decided not to walk through the stage with the orchestra between the audience, but with her own accompanist through the parking garage under the Vrijthof. “I also went to the stage earlier. Because I couldn’t walk so fast anymore.” Yet, she held out one night. Including dancing the "Macarena" around midnight with the men of Los del Río, who - just like in 2018 - are special guests this year. Ortjens laughs: “I don’t have a regular office job where I can sit out high pregnancy. I have to peak at night. Although with a fat belly right in front of the noses of the audience, the "Macarena" dance was also a thing. Because I don't feel sexy. “More like a mother.” For the viewer with an eye for detail: Ortjens did not wear her apple green dress, but a very sweet-looking salmon pink. “That’s the orchestra’s maternity dress. Because normally, all ladies wear a corset with skirt underneath, but that corset was really no longer an option for me. And the beauty of this dress is that when you put it back in the clothing cover, see who has worn it before you. For the inside of the cover are written all the names and years. I am the sixth orchestral member to wear this dress, because this is still a fairly new one. I think they had a purple version. But this pink was first worn by choir singer Anna Reker in 2015 and last by our violinist Laurianne Thysebaert in 2020. You really feel a tradition in this dress.” A difficult decision What made her decision to stop after one evening extra difficult, was that almost her entire family - her husband Toine, father Wim and mother Sannie and her two brothers Charles and Jules would not come to watch until Friday. "They would be sitting on the terrace at restaurant Gio's, including all my uncles and aunts, a total of about thirty people. If that had been a week later, during my maternity leave, I would have joined them. But now I felt that I couldn't let my colleagues down and then go and have a nice meal. My family didn't mind. They understood. My mother was already happy that she no longer had to worry about how those other three concerts would go."