I first saw a special on Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss orchestra back in 2004 on PBS. I heard the music from another room and came into the living room to see what it was. I sat down and watched the hour long special “Live in Dublin” and instantly fell in love with the music. I decided then and there that someday I would go to one of his shows. It is basically a classical music concert that includes waltzes, polkas and operatic solos. But rather than just sitting and clapping at the end of each song, these concerts encourage audiences to dance the waltz in the aisles, to stand and sway with the music, to jump up and down and so forth. The orchestra and singers are all very ornately dressed and there’s even a little bit of actors’ theatre involved. It also amazes me how many different languages he can speak. Whatever country he is in he speaks the native language. Crazy!!

So twice a year or so I would see one of the PBS specials, “Live in Tuscany”, “Live in Vienna”, “Live in Dresden” and wish that I could be in one of these beautiful, magical places to watch this amazing production. Well in June I was finally able to go!! And who better to go with than my handsome husband. Although it wasn’t Ireland or Austria, it was still so much fun!! For a person whose music collection consists mostly of classical music and musical soundtracks, this was the perfect concert. Thanks babe for being the one to go with me :)

Here are some of the pictures we took from the concert as well as a video clip from online. It will give you a good idea of what we experienced (although ours wasn’t outside in front of a castle).







This is one of my favorites...