Johann Strauss Orchestra

The career of the Johann Strauss Orchestra is not precisely coterminous with that of superstar Dutch violinist and conductor André Rieu, who was performing small classical crossover concerts with his Maastricht Salon Orchestra by the late 1970s. But the group has served as the vehicle for Rieu's increasingly ambitious ideas since its founding in 1987. On the occasion of Rieu's first concert with the orchestra, on January 1, 1988, there were 12 musicians. By 2008 that had expanded to 43, and by the mid-2010s the group might include anywhere from 80 to 150 members, depending on ...