After a terrible pronunciation of ‘goede avond’, which means ‘good afternoon’ in Dutch by this reporter, in which Rieu had no idea what was being said and mistook the pronunciation as German instead of Dutch, he was sweet and congratulated me for at least having a go.

“It’s OK, you tried it,” he chuckled. “It’s nice that you tried.”

In Australia to promote his new album, You’ll Never Walk Alone (released May 1), which had already reached gold status after just five days, Rieu told Cumberland Courier Newspapers that coming back to Australia felt like coming home.

“It’s not a cliché, it’s really true. I’m in the same hotel; I’m meeting the same people and having the same impression like I had the very first time. It’s nice to be here in this country. People are down to earth and I think we have a lot in common with Dutch and Australians.’

“They seem all to be my friends here. When I walk on the street people recognise me and they are so nice. In Europe and America I often feel bothered, but here they respect me and it’s a good feeling.”

There may be a reason why the violinist and conductor feels so welcomed in Australia. It could probably be because of the fact that in the last two years alone, Rieu has sold 2.5 million recordings throughout the country, something no other classical artist has achieved before.

In 2008, Rieu held the No.1 position on the DVD chart for 36 of the 52 weeks with 6 different titles. For one week in November last year, he held the Top 8 spots in the ARIA Top 10 DVD chart and 16 in the Top 40, while in 2009 his Live in Australia and Dancing through the Skies DVDs have held the No. 1 position for 13 weeks.

The inspiration for the new album came from the devastating Black Saturday Victorian bushfires. Rieu has composed a song for the victims of the bushfires, titled, Yours Forever which features on the new release.

“It started with the fires and I made this music in fact for the victims. I tried to make a record that would comfort or help with music that could lift the people up and give them hope and to go on with life and enjoy life anyway. That was the main thought behind choosing this disc.”