André Rieu, the rockstar of classical music: millions of followers and a castle for a home

In Vrijthof, the largest square in Maastricht, someone has taped a piece of paper to a lamp-post with the handwritten words 'André Rieu is unne wikser' ('André Rieu is a magician' in Limburgish, the language of the region). A few metres away, his photo appears on the front page of the menu of one of the local restaurants.

It's October, but his July concerts are already being announced. As is tradition, violinist and conductor André Rieu (born in Maastricht in 1949) will play there next summer with his orchestra, in front of thousands of people for 12 consecutive nights, for which there is already a waiting list.

It is an event of such magnitude in the Dutch city that it has its own jigsaw puzzle in Maastricht's souvenir shops. But you don't have to go that far to find out what makes this musician so unique: on 26 and 27 January he will be performing at the Palacio de los Deportes Martín Carpena in Malaga city. One of the dates is about to sell out at this huge stadium.

"Everybody knows me, yes, but that's OK. Yesterday I went shopping to buy onions because I was making tomato soup, so I'm just a normal guy," says André Rieu.

He speaks to SUR sitting in one of the rooms of his castle in Maastricht, at the foot of the Meuse river, where he lives with his family and where his firm's headquarters is located, a music company with 130 employees.

"And there are even more who are freelancers," he points out. With his orchestra, the Johann Strauss, he has managed to create a unique style where waltzes and opera arias are mixed with film soundtracks, songs from famous musicals and some of pop's greatest hits.

From Blue Danube by Strauss and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 2, he moves on to Los del Río's La Macarena and Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive without batting an eyelid, despite the jumps he also does on stage. All are performed on his Stradivarius violin, over 300 years old, and with an aura of a Viennese waltz in the rhythm and aesthetics.

Every venue he passes through is transformed into a palatial hall with elaborate sets, giant screens and a play of lights. The result is breathtaking and thrilling. The men in his orchestra and choir wear frock coats and the women wear sumptious, colourful long dresses designed by André Rieu himself.

"When you go to see classical music, you see fantastic orchestras, but they're all in black. They look like they're dead. I love looking at beautiful things. The light, the colours, the flowers. Why not?" he asks.

With this approach and his undeniable charisma, Andre Rieu attracts over 700,000 spectators a year to his concerts, has 20 million followers on social media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube), more than two million monthly listeners on Spotify and has sold around 40 million records. His next album, Thank You, Johann Strauss!, will be released on 7 November for 35 euros.

Moreover, his style crosses so many barriers and borders. Just take a look at the many videos circulating on the internet of his concerts - some exceeding a staggering 200 million views - featuring young and old, couples in love and groups of friends.

"They like to come because they're moved (...) I want to make you cry, laugh and dance. We don't travel the world to show off how good we are. No, we want to spend a beautiful night together," he argues. The images of their performances certainly attest to what he says.

 - With so much applause and so many fans, do you feel like a rock star? 

- I don't know what it is to be a rock star. I'm myself. Maybe you should ask the rock star, have you ever felt like André Rieu?

Joking aside, he is well aware of the phenomenon that his brand represents. If Robbie Williams gave one concert in the Lithuanian city of Kaunas on his last European tour, he'll give two. In Madrid he'll perform at the Movistar Arena, in Valencia he will open at the Roig Arena, in Barcelona he will play at the Palau Sant Jordi and he'll do two nights at the Martín Carpena in Malaga, venues normally reserved for the biggest names in rock and pop. And for André Rieu. "It happens. Look. I'm here."

How does he explain it? "I think people like to be happy and forget about everything. Yes. There's a lot of shit in the world."

His concerts, he says, are a way of disconnecting from reality. He regrets that today it seems there is only "right or left".

"That's not right. My music brings people together. I don't ask if you're Catholic, right-wing, left-wing or whatever. Sit down together and enjoy yourselves."

He is concerned about the global situation, but maintains a positive attitude. "We should never abandon the word hope. It gives you energy to keep going."

The violinist advocates for music free of prejudice ("I don't have any, but the classics do") that connects with the general public and he doesn't understand those who criticise a symphony orchestra for tackling any type of repertoire.

"I play the music that touches my heart. It doesn't matter what it is as long as I feel 'ah, that's good'," he explains. Can't Help Falling in Love, Lonely Shepherd, Edelweiss, Voilà, the intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana? Everything has a place on his violin.

Who knows if one day he will also try playing a reggaeton song. When asked about it, he confesses that he doesn't know the genre and immediately searches for an example on his mobile.

"Is it this kind of music? I love it. But my concert, in the end, is like sex, you know? I put together a programme, I keep at it, I keep at it and then boom! There's the explosion. So I won't start with this," he argues with a chuckle.

Funnily enough, he never reveals his repertoire. "People don't know what I'm going to play, but they come because they know they're going to have an unforgettable night."

He has found the key to success in a music genre considered to be in the minority. Yet the formula is inimitable. "I think it's my character. I was born on a Sunday. I have a cheerful nature. I like to laugh and I like connecting with people. I like to look you in the eye and that's what I do on stage."

Behind his project lies "a lot of energy, a lot of discipline and a lot of dreams". Some nearly ruined him, like when, in 2008, he set out to build a replica of Vienna's Schönbrunn Palace for his concerts. "It was stupid. It was too big, it wasn't necessary."

Nevertheless, thinking big is what changed his life. He says he founded his orchestra because he was "not happy" in a "normal symphony orchestra". "My colleagues only talked about trade unions and more money, whether it was too hot or too cold. Nobody was really making music," he says.

It was his wife Marjorie who gave him the impetus to dare to change. "She said 'I know you have a dream, so follow it and I'll earn the money'. That's what she did and I had time to form my own orchestra. At the beginning there were 12 of us, now there are 80 of us," he says proudly.

When he started out on this adventure, he didn't have "much money" to offer them, but he promised them they would "travel the world". So, he is still keeping his promise today. In the coming months they will go to the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Romania, Austria, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary, but Rieu always returns to the same place, his home town of Maastricht.

A great fan of the adventures of Tintin, he says he always wanted to have a French château like the one in Hergé's drawings.

"It was much bigger than this one. But there is no French castle here in Maastricht. There's only one castle."

This is the one that welcomes us, Huis De Torentjes, the 'house of turrets' in Dutch, a 16th-century building with a legendary history. It is said that the real D'Artagnan, the musketeer who inspired Dumas, had his last breakfast there before dying during the siege of Maastricht. A sculpture in the garden commemorates him.

"Of course I'm glad to have a castle and a Stradivarius. But I'm the same guy I was before. I'm not jealous of Elon Musk for having more money than me. Not at all. I'm happy with what I've done," he concludes.