Shaking the solemn atmosphere that surrounds classical music is one of the goals of world-renowned violinist Andre Rieu. Rieu will stop in Ames this week with his orchestra for a concert he says audiences will never forget.

“I see how the humor is lacking in classical music, and that’s what I try to put back,” Andre Rieu says. “It’s possible to have fun onstage while playing classical music, and I think that is very important.”

Rieu, who was born in 1949, has been playing the violin since he was a small child. Rieu says he tried a lot of other instruments, but the violin has always been his favorite.

“I was 3 years old, and my mother gave me my first violin,” Rieu says. “So that is how I got started.”

He says he still has that first violin but doesn’t play it much anymore. At Hilton, his bow will draw the strains of music from a 337-year-old instrument. Rieu says he now predominantly plays his Stradivarius, which was made in 1667.

Rieu is performing with his Johann Strauss Orchestra, which consists of 41 orchestra members as well as soloists and technicians.

“It’s a circus,” Rieu says.

The orchestra members, Rieu says, are from all over the world. Currently, they all reside in the same area of Holland so they can travel together. The selection process, Rieu says, has as much to do with passion as ability.

“I think that the most important thing is that they really want to play music, not only that are able to,” Rieu says. “You should really love your job.”

Rieu says for him, music is what he loves, and he can’t imagine doing anything else.

“I only want to go on like this,” Rieu says. “I always dreamed of traveling with an orchestra, and now I’m living my dream.”

Rieu says he prefers to keep the music he and the orchestra are playing a mystery, so the audience doesn’t know what to expect.

“I’m not going to tell you, because then it won’t be a surprise,” Rieu says. “But the audience, they will never forget it.”

Rieu says people have traveled a lot of kilometers to hear their concerts, and it gives him encouragement to see that people really like what he is doing.

Only recently has Rieu started to formally compose music, but he says the ideas have been there for a long time.

“I think I was always composing,” Rieu says. “I did a lot of improvisation; I have a lot of melodies in my head all the time, but I never dared to put it on paper until the last four or five years.”

Rieu says there isn’t really one particular external source of inspiration for his compositions.

“I think the only inspiration can be your heart,” Rieu says. “When it doesn’t touch your heart, it’s no good.”

Although his career spans several decades, Rieu says he keeps looking forward to each new night, rather than picking out favorite performances from the past.

“Every night for me, every concert for me, is a new adventure,” Rieu says.

“There is no place that is my favorite. It’s not the place you play, it’s the public you play for, and every night is a new night.”