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The Maastricht hotel banner in Romania! Fan picnic in Izvor Park, on June 11, at 12 PM, with Sjef Jansen (yellow shirt) and Alex, who are André’s promoters in Romania.

The Sunday concert was rainy. It was Rodica’s first experience with waltzing in the sun (on Saturday) and dancing in the rain (on Sunday)!

Iaver Tudor was so kind to send us the link of the Bucharest webcam and this is what we saw. Changing colors all the time and fireworks at the end of the concert. Thanks Tudor!

Rodica and Jack Welton are practicing the waltz. The first live André concert for Rodica’s mother (a present by Rodica for her 90th birthday!)

June 16, 2016.       Rodica Trasca’s personal review. Many years ago I heard about André Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra from my Canadian friend in Toronto: Carmen. After having consulted the internet, it was love at first sight! My first live concert was in Vienna (2013) . There I discovered the joy of the André Rieu live concerts, and the birth of beautiful friendships due to his music. There, on a ship, on the Blue Danube, I met my beloved friends Edna and Jackie Welton, from England. When I saw them I knew that they would attend the concert!! There was an immediate click and our wonderful friendship was born. From that time I'm sure that our friendship will exist forever because of André and his music The first live concert was fantastic. I was in Heaven ! I really needed two weeks to come down to the ground!  But, my friend Edna said: “ You did not experience everything! YOU HAVE TO COME TO MAASTRICHT!!!”.  And yes, she was right !!! The next year (2014) I was in Maastricht! I learned to know so many fan friends from all over the world and I showed my banner "André, Romania is waiting for you" in the concert. There, in André’s  World, I discovered  what his fantastic music meant to the friendships and the connection between people who had never seen each other before. My first visit in Maastricht had another new experience: the fan picnic in the park! It was the place where I met so many wonderful fans, because we all had in our hearts the same love for André Rieu, JSO and their music. When the Maestro came to Romania for the first time, I liked to organize a similar event in Bucharest. I was helped by the best organizer (thanks Ineke), teaching me the secrets of achieving the most successful picnic, and she lent me one of her big banners. Little flags were created by international support: designed by Vivienne Pratt (England), produced by Alice Leung (from Chinese origin, lives in Canada), sent to Ineke in The Netherlands, from where I took them to Bucharest. Ineke and Ruud traveled to Bucharest for this first Romanian concert experience. What do you think about such international cooperation because of Andre's music? Isn't it wonderful? This year's picnic was 100% Romanian organized!  Only the big banner came from the Netherlands. The engine was the Romanian fan club. All of us made something, to create a nice picnic and we succeeded! Thanks to all the volunteers, who provided little flags, banners, sweets and soft drinks. We spent a couple of hours with joy and happiness in Izvor Park and we felt honored to have two promoters as our guests. The André Rieu concerts in Bucharest 2015 and 2016 were a dream come true. They needed along time of preparations. I have the great joy to be accepted by the Romanian promotional team to help them as a volunteer. (Thanks to Sjef Jansen, Nicoleta Ion and Alex Draghici, for being trusted and accepted in your team). I did my very best to help them promote the concerts. So did the members of the fan group. We spread flyers in Bucharest and even in Vienna, inviting the audience to come to Bucharest!!   Last week was a great and difficult week for all of us. We could hardly wait for the concerts to start. Saturday and Sunday were our dream evenings. We began with sun and finished singing in the rain! The weather on Saturday night was okay, but when rain and a thunder storm threaten, it is scary. Nevertheless 12.000 people didn't leave the square, that was fantastic!!!!  On Sunday evening, André opened the concert with his well-known sense of humor, playing the song "Singing in the rain"! So the concerts finally turned in two dream evenings. Thank you Maestro. Now the stage is removed, the last truck departed for home and I am dreaming of Maastricht again! I am counting the days! There I shall meet again my friends from all over the world and I'll bring four Romanian fan friends, whom I told (as my beloved friend Edna told me some years ago): YOU HAVE TO GO  TO MAASTRICHT! This is my story and Yes , I am 66 (just like André) and I am in love again! With André Rieu and his JSO, with their music, their joy of life ……. What can I say more ?  Most of all I love the ARTIST, the MUSICIAN, the GENTLEMAN, the HUMAN BEING, the perfect FAMILY MAN  (husband, father and grandfather), I love his SOUL, his SMILE, his HUMOR and his TALENT.  I LOVE ANDRE RIEU!  LONG LIVE THE KING OF THE WALTZ !!!!