André Rieu
Dutch violinist and conductor
André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu (Dutch: [ˈɑndreː riˈjøː], French: [ɑ̃dʁe ʁjø]; born 1 October 1949) is a Dutch violinist and conductor best known as the founder of the waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra.
Rieu and his orchestra tour worldwide, often playing in stadiums. He resides in his native Maastricht, where he also regularly performs at the Vrijthof.
Early life and education
The name Rieu is of French Huguenot origin, though both of Rieu's parents were Catholic. André was born to Andries Antonie Rieu and is the third of six children.
Rieu's father was conductor of the Maastricht Symphony Orchestra. Showing early promise, André began studying violin at the age of five. From a very early age, he developed a fascination with orchestra, although he found his parents strict and moved away from his father's musical style in adulthood. He studied violin at the Conservatoire Royal in Liège and at the Conservatorium Maastricht, (1968–1973), studying under Jo Juda and Herman Krebbers.
From 1974 to 1977, he attended the Music Academy in Brussels, studying with André Gertler.
“André Rieu” enters the record as dutch violinist and conductor. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what André, Rieu and Dutch can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q159832. VIAF identifies the subject as 32165140. The Library of Congress control number is no99080748. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1949, 1968, 1973 and 1974.
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This entry incorporates text from “André Rieu” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.