We hear wonderful stories here in Maastricht. Again we wonder: is there a coincidence?? On Saturday July 9th 2022 we went out eating with our daughter Irene, at the Japanese restaurant Sashimi in the Helmstraat, next to our hotel. We spoke to the kind owner of the restaurant about the concert series, and she told us that her employee of 8 years now plays the violin in the Johann Strauss Orchestra. We suggested: Justinas Kaunas?? (Our search for the new faces in the Johann Strauss Orchestra, after the corona break of 2 years, had already led to this name). She was amazed! How did we know?? She told us that Justinas had worked for her during his study at the conservatory as a part time servant for 8 years! One day Pierre and his family had dinner in this restaurant and the conversation turned to music and Justinas said that he played the violin. Pierre suggested that the orchestra had a vacancy….. So, Justinas applied at André and was accepted!!! What a wonderful story! (The story is in my book “Music connects people” chapter 52.)

During the 2022 concerts, fans were surprised by four “Meet and Greet” afternoons, organized by “hashtag Maastricht” in collaboration with various Orchestra members. (Click HERE). Justinas also came to take a look.

July 3, 2024. “The Limburger”, by Ronald Colee Photocredits: Ermindo Armino Translation Ineke, edited by Alice Leung Twice, violinist Justinas Kaunas missed a call from his future boss André Rieu: 'An opportunity wasted, I thought’ “Fortunately, I now contribute to this as a musician and the priesthood has not been necessary.” As a seven-year-old violinist, he played his first concert in the Netherlands. Twenty-five years later, Lithuanian Justinas Kaunas (31) is part of the Johann Strauss Orchestra. Thanks to a priest in Egmond-Binnen (town), the Monastery in Wittem (town) and a portion of luck. “Several times I thought I had smashed my own windows.” He has cleaned restaurant kitchens, prepared lunches as a kitchen helper, given violin lessons to children and helped organize “Jazz Maastricht” as a volunteer. And now he has been first violinist with André Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra for two years, two months and two weeks. Justinas Kaunas still finds it difficult to comprehend. Born in Vilnius, raised in Lukšiai and studied in Kaunas, the Lithuanian has now lived in the Netherlands for almost half his life. “And I still don't fully understand the language. Isn't it awful?" With the qualification 'not fluent in the language' he is selling himself short. He can make himself understood in Dutch very well. But when it comes to explaining the remarkable path he took to eventually becoming a member of the Johann Strauss Orchestra, he prefers English. Wanderlust “I don't come from a musical family at all. My father played a little guitar, my mother could sing beautifully, but otherwise the visual art was the main focus in our family. For example, my father Vytautas and my sister Adele Liepa are quite well-known painters (artists) in Lithuania. My father's works have even been purchased by museums.” He owes the fact that he ended up in the music world to his parents' wanderlust (love of travel). “They traveled a lot, even when Lithuania was still part of the Soviet Union. On one of those trips they met a Dutch pastor and his Czech wife in Czechoslovakia. They in turn knew brother Thijs Ketelaars from the Benedictine monastery in Egmond-Binnen.” (town). Father and mother Kaunas also became good friends with a couple of German orchestra musicians during one of their trips. “One of them played the violin and he once visited my parents in Lithuania. He had his instrument with him and let me play a little. I must have been three or four at the time. In my memory the instrument was bigger than me.” He doesn't remember having lessons then. “But there are photos of it. So then it must have been like that. My parents are also very adamant that I immediately liked that instrument.” Nature Remarkable for the descendant of a non-musical family. “We lived on the edge of the village. A bit remote. Close to nature. As a result, unlike my classmates, I was less influenced by pop music with drums and guitars.” Yet it would be another two years before he started playing the violin seriously. “In addition to his existence as an independent artist, my father also taught painting at the art academy in Šakiai. There he had to collect his salary in cash every month. And I was allowed to come along.” In the staff room he met a colleague of his father, who was a violin teacher. “She saw that I had large and soft fingertips, took me to her classroom and immediately put a violin in my hands. I didn't feel like doing that at all. I preferred to climb trees. But I didn't know how to say no. Something I still struggle with at the age of 31.” As a result, he took violin lessons twice a week for seven years. “After that I had to choose between the regular gymnasium (high school) or the music academy. Because I had won the third prize during an international competition, as a boy from the countryside, I was noticed and it became the music academy. If that hadn't happened, I would probably have chosen to study mathematics.” At the music academy in Kaunas, the second city in the country, Kaunas was taught by Kęstutis Ivaškevičius. “The best violin teacher in the country. He taught me for five years, after which he advised me to continue my studies in Cologne. But I didn't get the teacher I wanted there, after which another violin teacher suggested I try it in Maastricht.” He did not know the city itself, but the young Lithuanian had been to the Netherlands before. “When I was seven, I was allowed to play at the opening of my father's exhibition in Egmond-Binnen. That was my first concert ever in the Netherlands.” That exhibition was a great success. “My father sold a lot of works and because of that euphoria I called myself Flying Dutchman on Skype from that day on and the Dutch team with Robben and Van Persie became my favorite football team.” Because studying in Western Europe is extremely expensive for a resident of the Baltic States, Brother Thijs Ketelaars and the residents of Egmond-Binnen came to the rescue. “They offered to pay for my first two years of study and also arranged free accommodation for me at the Redemptorist monastery in Wittem.” Sashimi In order to qualify for student financing as a foreign student, Kaunas had to work in addition to his studies. “I have cleaned restaurant kitchens after closing time, prepared lunches independently as a kitchen assistant and taught violin to children.” The mother of one of those children knew the owners of Sashimi, a Japanese restaurant in the Helmstraat (street) in Maastricht. “I helped in the ministry there for eight years. I still help them if they ask for it and my work at the Johann Strauss Orchestra allows it.” Work that he partly owes to his job at Sashimi. “I sometimes worked eighty to ninety hours a month. Besides my studies. And that was tightening. Because Sashimi is an all you can eat restaurant, which means you have to run for five or six hours straight. I was also a freelancer at the South Netherlands Philharmonic and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. I was sometimes so exhausted that at a certain point I started to feel bad about my life and hoped for a miracle.” That miracle came about thanks to Pierre Rieu. “I immediately saw that it was him. He came to eat at Sashimi more often. I never wanted to bother him before. But what did I have to lose? So at checkout I thanked him for what he and his father do for classical music. And then invited him to a concert of mine with the South Netherlands Philharmonic.” Two missed calls “'So you are also a musician?' Pierre Rieu asked me. 'A violinist? I may know someone who is looking for a violinist'. He then asked me to enter my name, phone number and email address into his phone. A day later I received a call from André himself.” However, he missed a call from the Maastricht orchestra leader twice. “I thought Pierre's response had been more of a friendly gesture than anything serious. On the way to a concert in Tilburg I noticed that I had two missed calls from an unknown caller that I paid no attention to. When I read an email from Pierre upon arrival in Tilburg that his father would call, I regretted it so much. Chance lost, I thought. Still, I let Pierre know that I could be reached after the sound check at eight o'clock in the evening. At that time, down to the minute, I received a call from André asking if I could come and play for something three days later. 'Something by Mozart and something else'.” On the way to the studio in Amby (district of Maastricht), Kaunas got a flat tire that Tuesday. “Great stress, because Pierre had urged me not to be late.” The Lithuanian saved it in the nick of time. “I had exactly three seconds left for a warm-up.” When André came in he asked if Kaunas also had the sheet music with him. “‘No, I play it from memory,’ I replied. 'Not for you. For Frank Steijns, my pianist'. Wow, I hadn't thought of that. So after pushing away his call, I was convinced that yet another opportunity had been lost. Fortunately, Frank is great at improvising.” No reaction After his performance of Mozart's Concerto No. 4 did not follow any response from the maestro except: 'Can you play something else? Just play Tchaikovsky'. The last time I played Tchaikovsky's violin concerto was three or four years ago. Now I thought – completely unprepared – oh well, let me try. Then I'll see what happens. But even now there was not exactly an enthusiastic response. “Can you do more?” I suggested playing a sonata by the Belgian composer Ysaÿe that I had practiced. “No, just do Jules Massenet's Meditation from the opera Thais.” A song that Kaunas knew but had never played. “I didn't get further than a third of the first page. “Okay, thank you,” was André's response. 'Come sit down and we'll have a talk. The best way to get to know each other better is to join us on tour. So do you want to go to England next week?'. Again I responded awkwardly by saying: 'I'll think about it'.” “Do you understand what I just offered you?” André responded. “Yes,” I said, “but I have promised to help the Limburg Youth Symphony Orchestra.” After which an interview between him and Frank followed. “Does he get paid for that?” When Frank said he didn't, Rieu asked him if he could find someone else to fill in for me at the Limburg Youth Symphony Orchestra. When Frank said that was no problem, André turned back to me and said: 'Okay, Frank will arrange a replacement for you. Then I'll ask you that question again: would you like to come to England with us?' Of course, I didn't have to think about it for a second." King of Bahrain And so Kaunas has been playing with the Johann Strauss Orchestra as a violinist for two years, two months and two weeks. “Somehow this was meant to be. That despite all the hustle and bustle, I helped Sashimi out, Pierre came to eat there, André happened to be looking for a violinist. And all my 'blunders' were forgiven me. Particularly thanks to Frank who saved me by improvising during the audition and then arranging a replacement for me at the Limburg Youth Symphony Orchestra.” The 31-year-old violinist still cannot fully believe that he is actually part of the Johann Strauss Orchestra. “I still get goosebumps every time I sit on that stage among those musicians in front of thousands of spectators. Spectators whose faces you sometimes cannot see, only the color of the clothes they wear. And then I realize that every color is a person. A grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, child or grandchild. That is so incredibly special that sometimes I fill up. Because I still remember some concerts before I played with the Rieu orchestra; that I could literally count every spectator.” In those two years he has already visited more than thirty countries and even had the opportunity to shake hands with the King of Bahrain. “I sincerely hope that we will visit Lithuania again. To give the people there that little bit of joy with our orchestra that they are longing for.” Pride The last time the Johann Strauss Orchestra performed in Lithuania was in 2015. Fortunately, Kaunas' parents and sister have already been able to see him work in other places. “They are so proud of me. André really saved me. Just like my violin teacher in Lithuania, he is a role model for me. Because for André it is not just about the music but also about making the world a little bit more beautiful.” The same reason why Kaunas once – briefly – considered becoming a priest. “I was so fed up with the constant competition that prevails in the classical music world after a number of lesser (not so great) experiences with other orchestras that I seriously thought about it. Because I also believe in a better world. Fortunately, I now contribute to this as a musician and the priesthood has not been necessary.”

During the Maastricht Vrijthof concerts in July 2024, an article about Justinas appeared in the Limburg paper (on top of this page).

Story from my book “Music connects people” chapter 52.

July 9, 2022.