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Johann Strauss Orchestra | |
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Pops orchestra | |
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Founded | 1987 |
Location | Maastricht, Netherlands |
Concert hall | Vrijthof |
Principal conductor | André Rieu |
Website | andrerieu.com/the-johann-strauss-orchestra |
The Johann Strauss Orchestra is a pops orchestra founded in the Netherlands by André Rieu in 1987. The orchestra is well known for performing classical works with a distinctly unorthodox frivolity, joking with the audience and performing all sorts of antics.
Rieu and his orchestra have performed throughout Europe, in North America, Japan, and Australia. Winning a number of awards, including two World Music Awards, their recordings have gone gold and platinum in many countries, including eight-time platinum in the Netherlands.
At Rieu's studios in Maastricht, the orchestra has recorded a wide range of classical, popular and folk music, and music from cinema and musical theatre. His lively orchestral presentations, in tandem with effective marketing, have attracted worldwide audiences to this subgenre of classical music.
Some of the orchestra's performances have been broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sky Arts and the United States on the PBS television network [1] such as the 2003 airing of Andre Rieu Live in Dublin, filmed in Dublin, Ireland, and 2003's André Rieu Live in Tuscany filmed in the Piazza Della Repubblica in the village of Cortona in Tuscany.
Gemma Serpenti and the Dutch violinist and conductor, André Rieu founded the Maastricht Salon Orchestra (MSO) in 1978. [2] In the beginning, André Rieu performed small classical crossover concerts with the MSO. The group has served as the vehicle for Rieu's increasingly ambitious ideas since its founding. [3] In 1987 André renamed the MSO as the Johann Strauss Orchestra to emphasise waltz music. [2] On the occasion of Rieu's first concert with the orchestra, on January 1, 1988, there were 12 musicians.
At the time the orchestra first toured Europe, there emerged a renewed interest in waltz music. The revival began in the Netherlands and was ignited by their recording of the Second Waltz from Shostakovich's Suite for Variety Orchestra . As a result, Rieu became known as the modern "Waltz King," [4] [3] a title originally bestowed upon Johann Strauss II.
The orchestra has performed regularly with guest musicians and singers such as Carla Maffioletti, Mirusia Louwerse, Carmen Monarcha and the Platin Tenors.
By 2008, the orchestra had expanded to 43 members, and in the 2010s the group variously included anywhere from 80 to 150 members, depending on venue and occasion. [3] The most senior member of the orchestra is Jean Sassen, who has been a member since 1987. [2]
Johann Baptist Strauss II, also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son, was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas as well as a violinist. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas and a ballet. In his lifetime, he was known as "The Waltz King", and was largely responsible for the popularity of the waltz in Vienna during the 19th century. Some of Johann Strauss's most famous works include "The Blue Danube", "Kaiser-Walzer", "Tales from the Vienna Woods", "Frühlingsstimmen", and the "Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka". Among his operettas, Die Fledermaus and Der Zigeunerbaron are the best known.
Johann Baptist Strauss I, also known as Johann Strauss Sr., the Elder or the Father, was an Austrian composer of the Romantic Period. He was famous for his light music, namely waltzes, polkas, and galops, which he popularized alongside Joseph Lanner, thereby setting the foundations for his sons—Johann, Josef and Eduard—to carry on his musical dynasty. He is best known for his composition of the Radetzky March.
The Vienna New Year's Concert is an annual concert of classical music performed by the Vienna Philharmonic on the morning of New Year's Day in Vienna, Austria. The concert occurs at the Musikverein at 11:15. The orchestra performs the same concert programme on 30 December, 31 December, and 1 January but only the last concert is regularly broadcast on radio and television.
Bond is an Australian/British string quartet that specialises in classical crossover and synth-pop music. The quartet has sold five million albums.
"Frühlingsstimmen", Op. 410 is an orchestral waltz, with optional solo soprano voice, written in 1882 by Johann Strauss II.
André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu is a Dutch violinist and conductor best known for creating the waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra.
Schatz-Walzer, Op. 418, is a Viennese waltz by Johann Strauss II composed in 1885. The melodies in this waltz were drawn from Strauss' operetta Der Zigeunerbaron, which premiered to critical acclaim on 24 October 1885. Der Zigeunerbaron, a Hungarian-influenced work, remained Strauss' best-remembered operetta after Die Fledermaus. The waltz version was first performed on 22 November that year in the concert hall of the Vienna Musikverein, with Eduard Strauss conducting.
Carla Maffioletti is a Brazilian soprano.
Carmen Monarcha is a Brazilian soprano.
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an Australian orchestra based in Melbourne. The MSO is resident at Hamer Hall. The MSO has its own choir, the MSO Chorus, following integration with the Melbourne Chorale in 2008.
John Sheahan is an Irish musician and composer. He joined The Dubliners in 1964 and played with them until 2012 when The Dubliners' name was retired following the death of founding member Barney McKenna. Sheahan is the last surviving member of the definitive lineup of the Dubliners.
Mirusia Louwerse is an Australian soprano. She performs as Mirusia and has been called "The Unconventional Pop Star" and "The Angel of Australia".
The Limburgs Symfonie Orkest was a Dutch orchestra based in Maastricht, Netherlands. The orchestra was resident at the Theater aan het Vrijthof in Maastricht since 1992, and also performed in opera productions with Opera Zuid. The orchestra had received funding from the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Province of Limburg and the Municipality of Maastricht.
The Great Waltz is a 1972 American biographical musical film directed by Andrew L. Stone, and starring Horst Buchholz, Mary Costa, and Nigel Patrick, that follows 40 years in the life of composer Johann Strauss and his family. It is based on the musical The Great Waltz, and was Stone's final film. M-G-M released a previous film adaptation in 1938, which is about a different phase of the younger Strauss's life.
The World's Peace Jubilee and International Musical Festival of 1872 took place in the Back Bay area of Boston, Massachusetts. Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore directed the festival, which lasted some 18 days. The jubilee honored the ending of the Franco-Prussian War.
"Gartenlaube Waltz", Op. 461, German: "Gartenlaube-Walzer", is a waltz by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II. The waltz was dedicated to readers of the magazine Die Gartenlaube, a German weekly for the middle class, which became the most-read magazine in 1890s Germany.
Béla Mavrák is a Hungarian tenor singer.
Ziesjoem, stylized with an exclamation mark as Ziesjoem!(pronounced: ZEE-SHOOM), are a Dutch music group of folk songs and popular music from Maastricht in the Netherlands. The group are locally known for their catchy, singalong music style and their costuming themes. The group currently consists of Marly Van Herpen, Jos Van Herpen and Roger Stijns.
"La Ola Walzer" is a song performed and recorded by Austrian artist DJ Ötzi. The song was released alongside the single "Servus die Wadln" on 31 January 2005. The single is a catchy form of 'pop waltz' song, featuring the main melody of "The Blue Danube". The song became popular following DJ Otzi's performance alongside André Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra in Vienna in 2006 and in Maastricht in 2010. Since the performance there has been a small demand for an English version of the song to be released, especially in the UK.
The Strauss Dynasty is an Austrian biographical film in six parts from 1991. It depicts the careers of Johann Strauss (father), the composer of the Radetzky March, and his son Johann Strauss (son) ("Schani"), the composer of the waltz The Blue Danube, who, despite his father's resistance, also became a musician and competed with his father as a waltz composer.