Andre Rieu concert screening breaks UK box office record

Dutch violinist and conductor André Rieu has broken his own record for the highest-grossing single day music concert event of all time at the UK & Ireland box office.

According to UK and Australian event cinema specialist CinemaLive, a single day screening of Christmas With André at 480 cinema locations in the UK and Ireland drew 70,000 attendees and grossed a total of £1,162,000 (A$1,952,060).

Christmas With André includes a never-before-seen recorded Christmas concert, a personal live tour of Rieu’s hometown of Maastricht and a live Q&A hosted by Good Morning Britain’s Charlotte Hawkins.

It broke Rieu’s 2015 Maastricht concert in cinemas, which took £1,034,000 ($1,737,030) in a single day.

“We are once again incredibly proud of yet another record-breaking result for André Rieu at the UK & Irish box office,” said CinemaLive director & CEO Peter Skillman.

“Cinema audiences have had the opportunity to experience two different offerings from André this year. Firstly, with the 2016 Maastricht Concert and now Christmas With André.

“It’s wonderful to see André’s dedicated audience come together to enjoy a festive concert experience at their local cinema”.

Following a further 223 cinemas through Europe it will be screened this weekend in Australia and New Zealand, along with a return to 290 more cinemas in the UK and Ireland. Canada gets it on December 1.

Last month, the King of Swing – whose violin is insured for $11 million – was named the biggest selling classical music artist in Australia for the last decade.

Australia was one of the first markets outside Europe to break the superstar. Universal Music’s local classical division struck a deal with SBS to screen a number of his European concerts, and struck gold.

His first tour here in 2008 sold 600,000 tickets, startling local rock promoters who wondered who he was. Each show cost $5 million to stage.

Aside from including Brisbane soprano Mirusia Louwerse in his shows, Rieu has since collaborated on record with The Seekers’ Judith Durham and filmed a DVD in Melbourne. “Australia is my second home,” he has declared.