Andre Rieu

Few violinists have built a career on the scale of André Rieu, the Dutch conductor whose waltzes and light classics fill stadiums across the world. He founded the Johann Strauss Orchestra in 1987, and the ensemble, which began with twelve players, now numbers between 50 and 60 musicians. Rieu trained at conservatoires in Liège, Maastricht and Brussels, and he still plays a 1667 Stradivarius. He keeps a home in Maastricht, where he also performs at the Vrijthof.

The orchestra gave its first concert on 1 January 1988 and has since toured Europe, the Americas, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Its 2008 tour carried a full-size reproduction of Empress Sisi's Castle, the biggest stage to travel at that time. In 2013 Sky Arts 2 was renamed Sky Arts Rieu for two weeks, broadcasting Rieu concerts and documentaries around the clock. Australia remains a major market: by 2008 he had earned his 100th platinum accreditation there, and between 2006 and 2011 he was the top-selling music artist. Critics have been divided, with Tom Service of The Guardian dismissing one Maastricht concert film, while Nina Siegal of the New York Times called him a maestro for the masses, if not the critics.