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Article from the German newspaper “Bild”, February 24, 2023. Ten million Euros in state aid saved star violinist André Rieu from insolvency Star violinist André Rieu has had to struggle with major financial problems for his orchestra due to the corona pandemic. The Dutchman was already thinking about selling his Stradivarius. State aid finally saved him from bankruptcy.

Star violinist André Rieu (73) inspires an audience of millions all over the world with his music. His concerts in Europe, South America, the USA or China are all sold out, his waltz sounds make people forget their worries. But during the corona pandemic, the world star himself was plagued by strong worries. Because without appearances there was no income – but the salaries for his approximately 120 permanent employees continued. As "Bild" writes, the costs for his orchestra, the choir and the administration amounted to one million Euros per month – quite an amount. During the corona pandemic, André Rieu struggled with financial problems So where would the money come from? At the moment of his greatest needs, the Dutchman even considered selling his beloved Stradivari violin from 1732 for several million Euros. This is how much his orchestra means to him, which has grown close to his heart over the years: "I knew that I would get a new violin faster than such a wonderful orchestra," he told the newspaper. Many of his musicians have been with him for 20 to 30 years. "We are a family," he stressed. But fortunately, the steps were not necessary: The Dutch state stepped in with ten million Euros in aid payments. Star violinist Rieu received 10 million Euros in state aid In an interview with the "Bild" newspaper, the musician and composer continues: "The audience is hungry for happy, carefree music – just like my orchestra and I are. We've been waiting for so long." According to André Rieu, the ten million Euros in state aid saved him: "80 percent of salaries and fixed amounts for expenses," he calculates and adds: "Like all companies in the Netherlands." He is very grateful for the payments: "Without this support, we would not have made it. I'm very proud that I didn't have to dismiss anyone from my orchestra." During the Corona crisis, the musician became a cake baker During the corona era, the musical star, who has been married to his great love Marjorie (72) since 1975, made the best of the situation and tried out new hobbies in his castle in Maastricht. Among other things, he learned Spanish through the "Tintin" comics and began baking cakes. He also enjoyed posting the results on Instagram. In addition, he and his wife became big fans of a German TV series. "My wife Marjorie and I watched every day very religiously – "the Young Doctors," and are now huge fans of the series," he confessed and noted with a wink: "These young doctors got me through the pandemic!" Thanks to Sigrun H. for the article and John's translation

From the Limburger, February 20, 2023. André Rieu positive after two consecutive years of loss André Rieu is not worried about the continuity of his company. Although the violinist and his company suffered heavy losses in 2020 and 2021, the concert agenda has been filled again and a very good financial result is expected to be achieved in 2022. This is stated in the notes to the 2021 annual figures that have been filed. Just like in 2020, the year ended with a loss, although that was considerably less than in 2020. That year, Rieu still lost 2.2 million euros, in 2021 the loss has decreased to 399,000 euros. The poor results have everything to do with the corona pandemic, which meant that Rieu could not or hardly perform with his orchestra. In 2021, net turnover fell by 63% to more than 3.1 million euros. The largest turnover normally comes from the proceeds of concert tickets. The Maastricht entrepreneur is very positive about 2022 and 2023 in his explanation. “We have now played more than 90 concerts in 2022, with line-ups as usual and comparable to the years 2018 and 2019. As a result, we are sure that we will achieve a very good result in 2022 and our liquidity position has been strengthened again. The concert agenda for 2023 has also been filled again. We therefore consider the continuity risk to be small and there is no material uncertainty at this time.” Rieu's company received a total of 9.4 million grants from the government in 2020 and 2021 under the NOW and TVL schemes that were available in corona times.