A grand stage, music well known. Ice skaters, 250 musicians, dancers and singers. And a packed audience on two nights. All this in a replica of a castle, mounted inside a football stadium - the field of Ajax in Amsterdam.

The Fantastic accompanied the scenes, watched the concert, and talked with responsible for all this: the Dutch conductor and violinist Andre Rieu.

In the trial, a surprise: Rieu, 59, married, two children, does not give concerts with the typical mood of super conductors.

"In classical music, often the conductor is the guy who turns his back to the audience, which does not communicate with them. I like to show in concert that I am flesh and blood," says André Rieu, conductor and violinist.

That does not mean lack of rigor. Several times it to the test. Calls fixes gestures. All that to ensure technically, nothing goes wrong at the time of the concert.

Rieu is a lover of castles and palaces. A replica of one, Schönbrunn, Austria, is the stage of his current concert.

Reporter Álvaro Pereira Júnior questioned of who had the idea and Andre Rieu, without modesty, jokes: "Who do you think, huh?" Three years ago, I stood in front of the palace in Vienna. I was fascinated and asked my son Pierre, who recreate the building. "

And where does Andre Rieu live? In a castle, of course, built 50 years before the discovery of Brazil. It is located in Maastricht, the city where the musician was born, two and a half hours by train from Amsterdam.

Andre Rieu shows the castle where he lives. We started the meeting room. The entire building was renovated. "The place was dark, damp, dark," says Andre.

"In the dining room is where the we have a true Christmas dinner. Very comfortable", says Andre.

Stroll through the gardens and come to the kitchen - the favorite of the conductor. In the castle, they say, lived a famous French military man portrayed in the classic novel "The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan." D'Artagnan lived here and took his last breakfast in the kitchen of the castle before he died, "says musician.
 

Andre Rieu comes from a family dedicated to traditional classical music - his father was also a conductor.

One wonders, then, why someone with such advanced training is dedicated to classical music more than pop. "In classical music there is not much humor. I want to get through to people," he says.

The regents have reservations traditional style Rieu. "We can not call what he does a great art. It has a high artistic value," said José Maurício Galindo, conductor.

He replies: says that many orchestras seem dead. They may be playing the most beautiful symphonies, but do so without life.

In concert, Rieu does not miss the point. Simplifies the classical repertoire and sweeps the audience.

"What makes Andre Rieu? He offers entertainment very well done, very produced. But we can not find that to entertainment is wrong. There in the world for entertainment, "said José Maurício Galindo.

People come to dance in the aisles when the orchestra performs Johann Strauss waltzes, the genre's favorite conductor. "The waltz is like a mirror of life," he compares. "A perfect combination of sadness and joy."

"My Way" by Frank Sinatra, becomes a choreography on ice. Start a medley of Brazilian music and a band appears in the audience, a group of Santa Catarina.

"The emotion is so great that you get to cry," says the dentist Maria Lúcia Campos.
"We are fans of Andre Rieu. First the quality of the music, the beauty of the concert, and Andre who has the type good looks," confesses psychologist Martignago Dalva.

The last time that Andre Rieu came to Brazil was 30 years ago. He spent six months in Rio de Janeiro, just having fun, the house of a friend, pianist Jacques Klein Ceará.

Andre Rieu will return to the country this week for a promotional tour. And perhaps set a new concert visit, but now, with all the greatness of his complete spectacle .