Andre Rieu: My orchestra travels with its own cooks

Andre Rieu: My orchestra travels with its own cooks

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norman lebrecht

October 30, 2017

Most orchestral players complain about the difficulty of maintaining a balanced regular diet, especially when they are on the road.

No so in the Andre Rieu orchestra. From a Forbes interview:

You asked how a day looks like. So, we travel with nine big trucks. We play back-to-back, so the trucks arrive at 7:00 in the morning at the venue and they start to build. We are still in the other city where we played the day before in the hotel, then we leave by bus. We arrive at the venue, then everybody has something to eat or plays their instrument, and then we have a soundcheck. Every day I do a soundcheck because we have to adapt the sound to all the halls.

Then we have a meal together with our own cooks who travel with us because we want to be healthy, of course, and then I go to sleep two hours before the concert so I’ll be fresh onstage. Then we have a concert for three hours, and after the concert, we have an after snack because I told you I was in a classical orchestra where all the musicians after a beautiful symphony of Beethoven, the last note, the last applause, and then they all ran home. I love my wife, but when we play together a beautiful concert, I cannot go to sleep. I have to speak with my people and drink a glass of wine, so that’s what a day looks like.

Maybe that’s what keeps them smiling.

Comments

  • Theodore McGuiver says:

    I’ve heard he’s a superb employer.

  • Sue says:

    Your own cooks for short order cupcakes, souffles, candy, treacle and cream. Perfect for Rieu and his musical values.

  • Allen says:

    Here we go again. More bile.

  • harold braun says:

    oh,really…..

  • Valerii Bagerov says:

    The soups must be as insipid as the performances.

  • John Borstlap says:

    My fly on the wall says that the reason the musicians want to stay in their job and put up with the music and the fluff and the nonsense, is the more than excellent meals they are served, far superior to anything Rieu produces musically.

    The coquilles Saint Jacques, truffes, and generous paellas which accompany the tours have become legendary among musicians, and the Viennese Marmorgugelhupfen desserts, for which an expert Austrian cook is appointed to follow the tour busses with his own van with all the utensils and ingredients, assures that the players stick to Rieu till their death.

  • Sarah K. says:

    Thanks for the post

  • Bobby Hojack says:

    Never understood the hate for Rieu

    • Olivia Wight says:

      Really? I believe his audience members are all on day release from care homes for the terminally vacant.

  • John says:

    Where is my giant wanking emoji?

  • Teresa says:

    L’orchestra di André Rieu ha un’organizzazione perfetta, il maestro è un direttore impeccabile, il risultato è …sublime

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