ANDRE RIEU

It is a real piece of art if you can make a waltz sound like it is the easiest piece of music to play, because it's really not.

It doesn't matter as long as there's interaction between me and the audience. That's why they come.

I admire Johann Strauss a lot. I believe he was a genius of his time.

I have 120 people in my payroll without any government giving me any money. We live off the tickets and the records I sell. That is very unusual.

You go to a pop concert or a classical concert but there's nothing in between.

I have two speeds, nothing and full pelt.

It is my personality alone that has brought back the waltz and made it a global craze.

I believe that music in itself heals and that everything is about the power of the mind. I thought if you are happy, you don't get ill. Your health is in your head. When you are satisfied with your work, you don't get ill.

I know that when I like music, when it touches my heart, that it will touch your heart, too. That, I think, is the secret to my success.

For me, I always like to get up bright and early.

When I was 4 or 5, I attended my father's concerts. He very often played Strauss waltzes as encores and I saw something happening with the audience.

Mozart composed his music not for the elite, but for everybody.

I'm an un-healable positive optimist.

Now, I've changed my life to make sure I work only on what I love.

I was so busy with my studies that I didn't have a musical idol as a teenager. Later, around my 20s, I suddenly discovered the Beatles and the Rolling Stones but I guess my musical idol has always been Strauss.

I am travelling half the year around the world, every year, so coming home is one of the most beautiful things.

I think there are people who use classical music to say, 'I am better than you, because I know all the rules and you don't.' You're not allowed to have fun or entertain.

The waltz can be sad and at the same time uplifting. You have to see life from both sides, and the waltz encapsulates that. If you're in my audience you give yourself to me and the waltz will grab you.

I was the black sheep of the family, and my mother never really understood me.

The waltz is a very important part of my life. It's a very important way for me to express my positiveness, bringing humor to the world.

Other people might want a Ferrari, but I wanted a butterfly house. I built it together with a blacksmith. We designed it together.

I was a fat child and loved cake, perhaps because it was the only sweet thing in my life.

Where would I be without Johann Strauss's beautiful 'Blue Danube?' Without this piece of music I wouldn't be the man I am today. It's a tune that brings out the emotion in everyone and makes them want to waltz.

I am a showman in the traditional sense, but modern, too. I like to use sets and lighting to create magic.

We should make decisions in life with our hearts, not our brains, not only in music but in daily life.