Mat 10th, 2015, Maestro without borders

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Maestro without Borders / Limits Book release

May 10th 2015. To our surprise we received an invitation by the publisher to attend the book presentation in the Museum at the Vrijthof, in Maastricht, on May 26, 2015 at 3 PM. The book “Rieu, Maestro without borders/limits”, is the result of a two year long research by 3 scientists from the University of Maastricht, studying the secret of André Rieu’s worldwide success. The book is written by Maaike Meijer, Jac van den Boogard and Peter Peters. The publisher and the authors gave us permission to translate two chapters into English for the fans Click HERE to go to the Harmony Parlor for the “interview with Gosha Tarnowski” and HERE for “How Rieu travels”. Enjoy!

collage by Jaya Tgall

On May 26th 2015 Ruud and Ineke attended the book presentation at the Museum on the Vrijthof. André had interrupted his Poland Tour to receive the first copy. After an introduction by Professor Maaike Meijer, one of the three authors, she presented André with his copy. The scientists had toured with him and had investigated the secret of his worldwide success from all thinkable angles. We bought a few books and managed to obtain an autograph. The central hall of the Museum was very crowded and we spotted Frank Steijns, Frans Neus, and two of André’s security guards (one was Youri). The Limburg Radio and Television and the Dutch “Show News” TV were there with very big cameras and it was hard for us to go in between them to catch a few images with our mini camera. The professional press had priority, we are only fan paparazzi! Now we are very curious to read the book and find out (after having been fans for at least 25-30 years) why we like André Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra! We asked the publisher permission to translate and post a few chapters from the book in the Harmony Parlor for the fans. They could not tell us yet whether the book will be translated into English. At the moment it is only available in Dutch. Probably it will be on sale in the Maastricht book stores, but for sure you may order it with bol.com.

Above: André with the three authors of the book: From left to right: Maaike Meijer, Jac v.d. Boogard, Peter Peters. Photo to the right: André fooling around with the press: “You can take a photo now!”

This is a unique photo shoot!!! Angela Caracik was logged on to the Maastricht web cam that day, focusing on the Museum and saw us leaving the Museum!!! She took a picture of the computer screen. Angela lives in Brazil!!! Amazing!!!

We traveled by train to Maastricht and arrived in the morning. So we decided to walk along the white house to take a picture of the wrapped plaque. But it was not yet wrapped! They were fixing it to the wall. So we were the first persons to see the plaque! We met the current residents and the artist who designed the plaque: Désirée Tonnaer.

I told Désirée: “You have a familiar name, because one of the JSO members is also named Tonnaer”. (Joëlle, cello). And yes, they are related! The plaque depicts the city of Maastricht, on which André placed his seal. The seal on the map holds his signature. On the bottom of the plaque is written: “In this house the Maastricht musician and orchestra leader André Rieu spent his childhood. The city of Maastricht honored and congratulated him on his 65th birthday. October 1st 2014.

The current and two previous mayors of Maastricht were present: Gerd Leers, Philip Houben and Onno Hoes. Onno Hoes will leave Maastricht as Mayor effective the first of July 2015. (He joked about that in his speech). His successor will be Mrs. Annemarie Penn- te Strake. André was moved by the gift and jokingly advised the current residents of the building to install a little sign stating: "Rieu does not live here any more”. So dear fans, please, do not ring the bell here when you are visiting Maastricht! The address of the building is Begijnenstraat 1.

André lived in this house from the age of 11 till he left the parental house (at about 25). There were 6 children in the Rieu family and a grandmother. In this built-on side part of the house, grandmother lived on the ground floor and the children had their rooms above. In the second part of the interview with Frank Evenblij from 2013 (after 25 minutes) you’ll see André and Frank Evenblij in the house and in his former room. The interview is under Previous items: July-Dec. 2013, click HERE to see it.

The majority of the photos on this page were taken by Ruud and Ineke. The videos were translated by Ineke, as always assisted by John.

Photo by: Luc Hommes

Désirée Tonnaer lives in Maastricht. Her studio is in the Capucijnen straat in Maastricht. Interested in her creations? Go to www.desireetonnaer.com .

Sunday May 31st 2015: The L1 program: L1mbourgeois. Reporter: Jo Cortenraedt.

This is the second photo ever of Ineke standing next to André (in about 25 years that we follow his career). The first photo was taken by chance in the cinema of Heerlen in 2012, and the second one was taken in the Museum at the Vrijthof, in 2015. We are modest and happy fans. And after 25 years still fascinated by what he is doing!

2012

The last video on this page will be the one by the Dutch TV: Show News. When I saw it, I fell off my chair of laughter! The German fan Elke Freitag was turned into André’s wife! They also mentioned the source: The Harmony Parlor! Apparently the Dutch TV consults the fan websites! Yes, the Harmony Parlor as well as the Movies fan website show fan photos, but we never post a picture of Marjorie because we respect her wish to remain anonymous.

June 28th 2015: For the fans who can understand Dutch! Here is a RADIO interview by L1 with one of the authors of the book: Peter Peters about André Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra. Duration: 15 minutes. http://www.l1.nl/nieuws/290463-peter-peters-over-johan-strauss-orkest-van-rieu

The left picture is the original book cover. Some fans did not like the photo, and that’s why we started an opinion poll among the fans on Facebook. They could submit their favorite picture for a new book cover. Just for fun, to create a new cover which the fans liked best. The right picture won and Sue Berry created the lay-out. Isn’t it lovely?? What do you think, Maestro??