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Look up year in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A year (from Old English gēar) is the orbital period of the Earth moving around the Sun. For an observer on Earth, this corresponds to the period it takes the Sun to complete one course throughout the zodiac along the ecliptic.

In astronomy, the Julian year is a unit of time, defined as 365.25 days of 86400 SI seconds each.^[1]

There is no universally accepted symbol for the year as a unit of time. The International System of Units does not propose one. A common abbreviation in international use is a (for Latin annus), in English also y or yr.

Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by changes in weather, hours of daylight, and consequently vegetation and fertility. In temperate and subpolar regions, generally four seasons are recognized: spring, summer, autumn and winter, astronomically marked by the Sun reaching the points of equinox and solstice, although the climatic seasons lag behind their astronomical markers. In some tropical and subtropical regions it is more common to speak of the rainy (or wet, or monsoon) season versus the dry season.

A calendar year is an approximation of the Earth's orbital period in a given calendar. A calendar year in the Gregorian calendar (as well as in the Julian calendar) has either 365 (common years) or 366 (leap years) days.

The word "year" is also used of periods loosely associated but not strictly identical with either the astronomical or the calendar year, such as the seasonal year, the fiscal year or the academic year, etc. By extension, the term year can mean the orbital period of any planet: for example, a "Martian year" is the time in which Mars completes its own orbit. The term is also applied more broadly to any long period or cycle, such as the "Great Year".^[2]

Etymology[link]

West Saxon gear (jɛar), Anglian gēr continues Proto-Germanic *jǣram (*jē₂ram). Cognates are German Jahr, Old High German jar, Old Norse ár and Gothic jer, all from a PIE *yērom "year, season". Cognates outside of Germanic are Avestan yare "year", Greek ὥρα "year, season, period of time" (whence "hour"), Old Church Slavonic jaru and Latin hornus "of this year".

Latin Annus (a 2nd declension masculine noun; annum is the accusative singular; anni is genitive singular and nominative plural; anno the dative and ablative singular) is from a PIE noun *at-no-, which also yielded Gothic aþnam "year".

Both *yē-ro- and *at-no- are based on verbal roots expressing movement, *at- and *ey- respectively, both meaning "to go" generally.

The Greek word for "year", ἔτος, is cognate with Latin vetus "old", from PIE *wetus- "year", also preserved in this meaning in Sanskrit vat-sa- "yearling (calf)" and vat-sa-ras "year".

Derived from Latin annus are a number of English words, such as annual, annuity, anniversary, etc.; per annum means "each year".

Seasonal year[link]

A seasonal year is the time between successive recurrences of a seasonal event such as the flooding of a river, the migration of a species of bird, the flowering of a species of plant, the first frost, or the first scheduled game of a certain sport. All of these events can have wide variations of more than a month from year to year.

Calendar year[link]

A calendar year is the time between two dates with the same name in a calendar. A half year (one half of a year) may run from January to June, or July to December.

No astronomical year has an integer number of days or lunar months, so any calendar that follows an astronomical year must have a system of intercalation such as leap years. Financial and scientific calculations often use a 365-day calendar to simplify daily rates.

In the Julian calendar, the average length of a year is 365.25 days. In a non-leap year, there are 365 days, in a leap year there are 366 days. A leap year occurs every 4 years.

The Gregorian calendar attempts to keep the vernal equinox on or soon before March 21, hence it follows the vernal equinox year. The average length of this calendar's year is 365.2425 mean solar days (as 97 out of 400 years are leap years); this is within one ppm of the current length of the mean tropical year (365.24219 days). It is estimated that, by the year 4000, the vernal equinox will fall back by one day in the Gregorian calendar, not because of this difference, but because of the slowing down of the Earth's rotation and the associated lengthening of the sidereal day.

The Revised Julian calendar, as used in some Eastern Orthodox Churches, also tries to synchronize with the tropical year. The average length of this calendar's year is 365.242222 mean solar days (as 218 out of 900 years are leap years). Gregorian and Revised Julian calendars will start to differ in 2800.

The Persian calendar, in use in Afghanistan and Iran, has its year begin on the day of the vernal equinox as determined by astronomical computation (for the time zone of Tehran), as opposed to using an algorithmic system of leap years.

Numbering calendar years[link]

A calendar era is used to assign a number to individual years, using a reference point in the past as the beginning of the era. In many countries, the most common era is from the traditional (though now believed incorrect) year of the birth of Jesus. Dates in this era are designated Anno Domini (Latin for "in the year of the Lord"), abbreviated AD, or CE (for "common era"). The year before 1 AD or CE is designated 1 Before Christ (BC) or Before the Common Era (BCE), the year before that 2 BC/BCE, etc. Hence there was no year 0 AD/CE.

Other eras are also used to enumerate the years in different cultural, religious or scientific contexts.

Other annual periods[link]

Fiscal year[link]

A fiscal year or financial year is a 12-month period used for calculating annual financial statements in businesses and other organizations. In many jurisdictions, regulations regarding accounting require such reports once per twelve months, but do not require that the twelve months constitute a calendar year.

For example, the federal government of the U.S. has a fiscal year that starts on October 1 instead of January 1. In India the fiscal year is between April 1 and March 31. In the United Kingdom and Canada, the financial year runs from April 6 and April 1 respectively, and in Australia it runs from July 1.

Academic year[link]

An academic year is the annual period during which a student attends an educational institution. The academic year may be divided into academic terms, such as semesters or quarters.

Some schools in the UK and USA divide the academic year into three roughly equal-length terms (called "trimesters" or "quarters" in the USA), roughly coinciding with autumn, winter, and spring. At some, a shortened summer session, sometimes considered part of the regular academic year, is attended by students on a voluntary or elective basis.

Other schools break the year into two main semesters, a first (typically August through December) and a second semester (January through May). Each of these main semesters may be split in half by mid-term exams, and each of the halves is referred to as a "quarter" (or "term" in some countries). There may also be an elective summer session and/or a short January session.

Some other schools, including some in the United States, have four marking periods. The school year in many countries starts in August or September and ends in May, June or July.

Some schools in the United States, notably Boston Latin School, may divide the year into five or more marking periods. Some state in defense of this that there is perhaps a positive correlation between report frequency and academic achievement.

There are typically 180 days of teaching each year in schools in the USA, excluding weekends and breaks, while 190 days for pupils in state schools in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Canada.

In India the academic year normally starts from June 1 and ends on May 31. Though schools start closing from mid-March, the actual academic closure is on May 31 and in Nepal it starts from July 15.^{[citation needed]}

Schools and universities in Australia typically have academic years that roughly align with the calendar year (i.e. starting in February or March and ending in October to December), as the southern hemisphere experiences summer from December to February.

In Israel the academic year begins around October or November, aligned with the second month of the Hebrew Calendar.

Astronomical years[link]

Julian year[link]

The Julian year, as used in astronomy and other sciences, is a time unit defined as exactly 365.25 days. This is the normal meaning of the unit "year" (symbol "a" from the Latin annus) used in various scientific contexts. The Julian century of 36525 days and the Julian millennium of 365250 days are used in astronomical calculations. Fundamentally, expressing a time interval in Julian years is a way to precisely specify how many days (not how many "real" years), for long time intervals where stating the number of days would be unwieldy and unintuitive. By convention, the Julian year is used in the computation of the distance covered by a light-year.

In the Unified Code for Units of Measure, the symbol a (without subscript) always refers to the Julian year a_j of exactly 31557600 seconds.

365.25 days of 86400 seconds = 1 a = 1 a_j = 31.5576 Ms

The SI multiplier prefixes may be applied to it to form ka (kiloannum), Ma (megaannum) etc.

Sidereal, tropical, and anomalistic years[link]

The relations among these are considered more fully in Axial precession (astronomy).

Each of these three years can be loosely called an 'astronomical year'.

The sidereal year is the time taken for the Earth to complete one revolution of its orbit, as measured against a fixed frame of reference (such as the fixed stars, Latin sidera, singular sidus). Its average duration is 365.256363004 mean solar days (365 d 6 h 9 min 9.76 s) (at the epoch J2000.0 = January 1, 2000, 12:00:00 TT).^[3]

The tropical year is the period of time for the ecliptic longitude of the Sun to increase by 360 degrees. Since the Sun's ecliptic longitude is measured with respect to the equinox, the tropical year comprises a complete cycle of the seasons; because of the economic importance of the seasons, the tropical year is the basis of most calendars. The tropical year is often defined as the time between southern solstices, or between northward equinoxes. Because of the Earth's axial precession, this year is about 20 minutes shorter than the sidereal year. The mean tropical year is approximately 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds^[4] (= 365.24219 days).

The anomalistic year is the time taken for the Earth to complete one revolution with respect to its apsides. The orbit of the Earth is elliptical; the extreme points, called apsides, are the perihelion, where the Earth is closest to the Sun (January 3 in 2011), and the aphelion, where the Earth is farthest from the Sun (July 4 in 2011). The anomalistic year is usually defined as the time between perihelion passages. Its average duration is 365.259636 days (365 d 6 h 13 min 52.6 s) (at the epoch J2011.0).^[5]

If Earth moved in an ideal Kepler orbit, i.e. a perfect ellipse with the Sun fixed at one focus, each kind of year would always have the same duration, and the sidereal and anomalistic years would be equal. Because of perturbations by the gravity of other planets, Earth's motion varies slightly, causing the sidereal and tropical years to vary in length by about 25 minutes (see table below). Both are affected in the same way, so that the sidereal year is consistently 20 minutes longer than the tropical year, provided that they are measured in the same way.

An example of a year that will have a duration exceeding the average value of 365.24219 SI days with as much as 24.23 minutes is the one that will begin at winter solstice December 21, 2042 17:47:45.5 (Atomic time).

Draconic year[link]

The draconic year, draconitic year, eclipse year, or ecliptic year is the time taken for the Sun (as seen from the Earth) to complete one revolution with respect to the same lunar node (a point where the Moon's orbit intersects the ecliptic). This period is associated with eclipses: these occur only when both the Sun and the Moon are near these nodes; so eclipses occur within about a month of every half eclipse year. Hence there are two eclipse seasons every eclipse year. The average duration of the eclipse year is

346.620075883 days (346 d 14 h 52 min 54 s) (at the epoch J2000.0).

This term is sometimes erroneously used for the draconic or nodal period of lunar precession, that is the period of a complete revolution of the Moon's ascending node around the ecliptic: 18.612815932 Julian years (6798.331019 days; at the epoch J2000.0).

Full moon cycle[link]

The full moon cycle is the time for the Sun (as seen from the Earth) to complete one revolution with respect to the perigee of the Moon's orbit. This period is associated with the apparent size of the full moon, and also with the varying duration of the synodic month. The duration of one full moon cycle is:

411.78443029 days (411 d 18 h 49 min 34 s) (at the epoch J2000.0).

Lunar year[link]

The lunar year comprises twelve full cycles of the phases of the Moon, as seen from Earth. It has a duration of approximately 354.37 days. Muslims use this for celebrating their Eids and for marking the start of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Vague year[link]

The vague year, from annus vagus or wandering year, is an integral approximation to the year equaling 365 days, which wanders in relation to more exact years. Typically the vague year is divided into 12 schematic months of 30 days each plus 5 epagomenal days. The vague year was used in the calendars of Ancient Egypt, Iran, Armenia and in Mesoamerica among the Aztecs and Maya.^[6]

Heliacal year[link]

A heliacal year is the interval between the heliacal risings of a star. It differs from the sidereal year for stars away from the ecliptic due mainly to the precession of the equinoxes.

Sothic year[link]

The Sothic year is the interval between heliacal risings of the star Sirius. It is presently less than the sidereal year and its duration is very close to the mean Julian year of 365.25 days.

Gaussian year[link]

The Gaussian year is the sidereal year for a planet of negligible mass (relative to the Sun) and unperturbed by other planets that is governed by the Gaussian gravitational constant. Such a planet would be slightly closer to the Sun than Earth's mean distance. Its length is:

365.2568983 days (365 d 6 h 9 min 56 s).

Besselian year[link]

The Besselian year is a tropical year that starts when the (fictitious) mean Sun reaches an ecliptic longitude of 280°. This is currently on or close to January 1. It is named after the 19th century German astronomer and mathematician Friedrich Bessel. The following equation can be used to compute the current Besselian epoch (in years):^[7]

B = 1900.0 + (Julian date_TT − 2415020.31352) / 365.242198781

The TT subscript indicates that for this formula, the Julian date should use the Terrestrial Time scale, or its predecessor, ephemeris time.

Variation in the length of the year and the day[link]

The exact length of an astronomical year changes over time. The main sources of this change are:

• The precession of the equinoxes changes the position of astronomical events with respect to the apsides of Earth's orbit. An event moving toward perihelion recurs with a decreasing period from year to year; an event moving toward aphelion recurs with an increasing period from year to year (though this effect does not change the average value of the length of the year).

• Each planet's movement is perturbed by the gravity of every other planet.

• Tidal drag between the Earth and the Moon and Sun increases the length of the day and of the month (by transferring angular momentum from the rotation of the Earth to the revolution of the Moon); since the apparent mean solar day is the unit with which we measure the length of the year in civil life, the length of the year appears to change. Tidal drag in turn depends on factors such as post-glacial rebound and sea level rise.

• Changes in the effective mass of the Sun, caused by solar wind and radiation of energy generated by nuclear fusion and radiated by its surface, will affect the Earth's orbital period over a long time (approximately an extra 1.25 microsecond per year).^[8]

• The Poynting–Robertson effect shortens the year by about 30 nanoseconds per year.

• Gravitational radiation shortens the year by about 165 attoseconds per year.^[9]

Summary[link]

• 346.62 days: a draconitic year.
• 353, 354 or 355 days: the lengths of common years in some lunisolar calendars.
• 354.37 days (12 lunar months): the average length of a year in lunar calendars, notably the Muslim calendar.
• 365 days: a vague year and a common year in many solar calendars.
• 365.24219 days: a mean tropical year (rounded to five decimal places) for the epoch 2000.
• 365.2424 days: a vernal equinox year (rounded to four decimal places) for the epoch 2000.
• 365.2425 days: the average length of a year in the Gregorian calendar.
• 365.25 days: the average length of a year in the Julian calendar.
• 365.2564 days: a sidereal year.
• 366 days: a leap year in many solar calendars.
• 383, 384 or 385 days: the lengths of leap years in some lunisolar calendars.
• 383.9 days (13 lunar months): a leap year in some lunisolar calendars.

An average Gregorian year is 365.2425 days = 52.1775 weeks = 8765.82 hours = 525949.2 minutes = 31556952 seconds (mean solar, not SI).

A common year is 365 days = 8760 hours = 525600 minutes = 31536000 seconds.

A leap year is 366 days = 8784 hours = 527040 minutes = 31622400 seconds.

The 400-year cycle of the Gregorian calendar has 146097 days and hence exactly 20871 weeks.

See also Leap seconds and other aspects of the Gregorian calendar.

Symbol[link]

There is no universally accepted symbol for the year as a unit of time. The International System of Units does not propose one. NIST SP811^[10] and ISO 80000-3:2006^[11] suggest the symbol a is taken from the Latin word annus.^[12] In English, the abbreviations y or yr are sometimes used, specifically in geology and paleontology, where kyr, myr, byr (thousands, millions, and billions of years, respectively) and similar abbreviations are used to denote intervals of time remote from the present.^[12][13][14]

Symbol a[link]

NIST SP811^[15] and ISO 80000-3:2006^[16] suggest the symbol a (in the International System of Units, although a is also the symbol for the are, the unit of area used to measure land area, but context is usually enough to disambiguate). In English, the abbreviations y and yr are also used.^[12][13][14]

The Unified Code for Units of Measure^[17] disambiguates the varying symbologies of ISO 1000, ISO 2955 and ANSI X3.50 [1] by using

ar for are and:

a_t = a_t = 365.24219 days for the mean tropical year

a_j = a_j = 365.25 days for the mean Julian year

a_g = a_g = 365.2425 days for the mean Gregorian year

a = 1 a_j year (without further qualifier)

A definition jointly adopted by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the International Union of Geological Sciences is to use annus, with symbol a, for year, defined as the length of the tropical year in the year 2000:^[18][19]

a = 365.24219265 days = 31556925.445 seconds

The notation has proved controversial; it conflicts with an earlier convention among geoscientists to use a specifically for "years ago", and y or yr for a one-year time period.^[19]

SI prefix multipliers[link]

• ka (for kiloannum), is a unit of time equal to one thousand (10³) years. This is typically used in geology, paleontology, and archaeology for Holocene and Pleistocene periods where a nonradiocarbon dating technique, i. e., ice core dating, dendrochronology, uranium-thorium dating, or varve analysis, is used as the primary dating method for age determination. If age is primarily determined by radiocarbon dating, then the age should be expressed in either radiocarbon or calendar (calibrated) years Before Present.
• Ma (for megaannum), is a unit of time equal to one million (10⁶) years. It is commonly used in scientific disciplines such as geology, paleontology, and celestial mechanics to signify very long time periods into the past or future. For example, the dinosaur species Tyrannosaurus rex was abundant approximately 65 Ma (65 million years) ago (ago may not always be mentioned; if the quantity is specified while not explicitly discussing a duration, one can assume that "ago" is implied; the alternative but deprecated "mya" unit includes "ago" explicitly.). In astronomical applications, the year used is the Julian year of precisely 365.25 days. In geology and paleontology, the year is not so precise and varies depending on the author.
• Ga (for gigaannum), is a unit of time equal to 10⁹ years (one billion on the short scale, one milliard on the long scale). It is commonly used in scientific disciplines such as cosmology and geology to signify extremely long time periods in the past. For example, the formation of the Earth occurred approximately 4.57 Ga (4.57 billion years) ago.
• Ta (for teraannum), is a unit of time equal to 10¹² years (one trillion on the short scale, one billion on the long scale). It is an extremely long unit of time, about 70 times as long as the age of the universe. It is the same order of magnitude as the expected life span of a small red dwarf star.
• Pa (for petaannum), is a unit of time equal to 10¹⁵ years (one quadrillion on the short scale, one billiard on the long scale). The half-life of the nuclide cadmium-113 is about 8 Pa.^[20] This symbol coincides with that for the pascal without a multiplier prefix, though both are infrequently used and context will normally be sufficient to distinguish time from pressure values.
• Ea (for exaannum), is a unit of time equal to 10¹⁸ years (one quintillion on the short scale, one trillion on the long scale). The half-life of tungsten-180 is 1.8 Ea.^[21]

Symbols y and yr[link]

In astronomy, geology, and paleontology, the abbreviation yr for "years" and ya for "years ago" are sometimes used, combined with prefixes for "thousand", "million", or "billion".^[13][22] They are not SI units, using y to abbreviate English year, but following ambiguous international recommendations, use either the standard English first letters as prefixes (t, m, and b) or metric prefixes (k, M, and G) or variations on metric prefixes (k, m, g). These abbreviations include:

Use of "mya" and "bya" is deprecated in modern geophysics, the recommended usage being "Ma" and "Ga" for dates Before Present, but "m.y." for the duration of epochs.^[13][14] This ad hoc distinction between "absolute" time and time intervals is somewhat controversial amongst members of the Geological Society of America.^[24]

Note that on graphs using "ya" units on the horizontal axis time flows from right to left, which may seem counter-intuitive. If the "ya" units are on the vertical axis, time flows from top to bottom which is probably easier to understand than conventional notation.

"Great years"[link]

Equinoctial cycle[link]

The Great year, or Equinoctial cycle corresponds to a complete revolution of the equinoxes around the ecliptic. Its length is about 25,700 years, and cannot be determined precisely as the precession speed is variable.

Galactic year[link]

The Galactic year is the time it takes Earth's solar system to revolve once around the galactic center. It comprises roughly 230 million Earth years.^[25]

See also[link]

Time portal

References[link]

Notes[link]

Further reading[link]

• Fraser, Julius Thomas (1987). Time, the Familiar Stranger (illustrated ed.). Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 0-87023-576-1. OCLC 15790499. 
• Whitrow, Gerald James (2003). What is Time?. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860781-4. OCLC 265440481. 

v t e Time Major concepts Time Eternity Arguments for eternity Immortality History Past Present Future Futures studies Deep time Time Portal Measurement and standards Chronometry UTC UT TAI Second Minute Hour Sidereal time Solar time Time zone Metric time Decimal time Hexadecimal time Clock Astrarium History of timekeeping devices Horology Marine chronometer Sundial Water clock Calendar Day Week Month Year Tropical year Gregorian Islamic Julian Intercalation Leap second Leap year Chronology Astronomical chronology Calendar era Chronicle Dating methodologies Geochronology Geologic Time Geological history Periodization Regnal year Timeline Religion and mythology Dreamtime Kāla Kalachakra Prophecy Time and fate deities Wheel of time Philosophy A-series and B-series B-Theory of time Causality Endurantism Eternal return Eternalism Event Perdurantism Presentism Temporal finitism Temporal parts The Unreality of Time Physical sciences Time in physics Absolute time and space Arrow of time Chronon Coordinate time Planck epoch Planck time Proper time Spacetime Theory of relativity Time dilation Gravitational time dilation Time domain T-symmetry Biology Chronobiology Circadian rhythms Psychology Mental chronometry Sense of time Specious present Sociology and anthropology Long Now Foundation Time discipline Time use research Economics Time value of money Time-based currency Time Banking Related topics Carpe diem Duration Space System time Tempus fugit Time capsule Time signature Time travel

lez:Йис

André Rieu
Rieu in Atlantic City, NJ, in 2007
Background information
Birth name	André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu
Born	(1949-10-01) 1 October 1949 (age 62)
Origin	Maastricht, Netherlands
Genres	Waltz
Occupations	Conductor, violinist
Instruments	Violin
Years active	1978–present
Labels	Denon Records , Philips
Website	www.andrerieu.com
Notable instruments
Stradivarius violin (1667)[1]

André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu (born 1 October 1949) is a Dutch violinist, conductor, and composer best known for creating the waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra.

Early life and studies[link]

The name Rieu is of French Huguenot origin.^[1] He began studying violin at the age of five. His father, of the same name, was conductor of the Maastricht Symphony Orchestra. From a very young age he developed a fascination with orchestra. He studied violin at the Conservatoire Royal in Liège and at the Conservatorium Maastricht, (1968–1973). His teachers included Jo Juda and Herman Krebbers. From 1974 to 1977, he attended the Music Academy in Brussels, studying with André Gertler, getting his degree "Premier Prix" from the Brussels Royal Conservatory.^[2]

Career[link]

At University he performed the Gold And Silver Waltz by Franz Lehár. Encouraged by the audience reaction he decided to pursue the waltz form. Rieu formed the Maastricht Salon Orchestra and performed as a violinist with the Limburg Symphony Orchestra. In 1987, he created the Johann Strauss Orchestra and his own production company. Since then, his melodramatic stage performances and rock-star demeanor have for some been associated with a revival of the waltz music category. André Rieu plays a 1667 Stradivarius violin.^[1]

In April 2009 (Dublin)/June 2009 (UK), he made a cameo appearance as himself on "Ramsay Street" in the long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours.^[3]

Johann Strauss Orchestra[link]

The examples and perspective in this article or section might have an extensive bias or disproportional coverage towards one or more specific regions. Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.

The Orchestra began in 1998 with 21 members but now performs with between 80 and 150 musicians. At the time the Orchestra first toured Europe, there emerged a renewed interest in waltz music. The revival began in the Netherlands and was ignited by their recording of the Second Waltz from Shostakovich's Jazz Suites. As a result, Rieu became known as the waltz King.

Rieu and his orchestra have performed throughout Europe, in North America, and Japan. Winning a number of awards including two World Music Awards, their recordings have gone gold and platinum in many countries, including 8-times Platinum in the Netherlands. In September 2007 Rieu performed in Australia for the first time solo, without his Orchestra at the Eastland shopping centre in the Melbourne suburb of Ringwood playing "My Way" and "Waltzing Matilda"—and the next day appeared at Sydney's Arena Cove, Warringah Mashopping with the same set. Rieu and orchestra returned to Australia in November as part of his world tour. Rieu and his orchestra played 3 concerts at Melbourne's Telstra Dome from 13–15 November and continued their tour throughout Perth, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide, through to December 2008. The concert theme is 'A Romantic Vienna Night' and the set comprises a life-size reproduction of the Viennese imperial Schönbrunn Palace, complete with 2 ice-skating rinks, 2 Fountains, and a ballroom dance floor situated above and behind the Orchestra. Rieu's largest concert attendance to date in Australia was 38,000 on Saturday 15 November in Melbourne. The Perth concert did not feature the replica of the Viennese Palace as it was stated in the press because it would not fit into the front doors of Subiaco Oval.

He records both DVD and CD repertoire at his own recording studios in Maastricht in a wide range of classical music as well as popular and folk music plus music from well-known soundtracks and musical theatre. His lively orchestral presentations, in tandem with incessant marketing, have attracted worldwide audiences to this subgenre of classical music.

Some of his orchestra's performances have been broadcast in the United Kingdom and the United States on the PBS television network^[4] such as the 2003 airing of Andre Rieu Live in Dublin, filmed in Dublin, Ireland, and 2005's André Rieu Live in Tuscany filmed in the Piazza Della Repubblica in the village of Cortona in Tuscany.

Reception[link]

Eamon Kelly writing in The Australian newspaper, in an article that discusses the controversy that Rieu engenders, said: "He depicts his critics as members of a stuffy musical elite with narrow aesthetic tastes, yet regularly demeans in interviews music that is not to his taste and classical musicians who choose not to perform in his manner."^[5]

Of Rieu's popularity and the debate in the media over criticism of him, Eamon Kelly says: "It is disappointing to see professional journalists indulging in cheap, inaccurate stereotypes to dismiss criticism of Rieu."^[5] But he goes on to add: "Equally misguided are those who cursorily dismiss Rieu. Rieu's live and recorded performances have brought joy to millions of people. Few in his audiences are regular classical music attendees and it could be seen as promising that, via Rieu, they are listening to standards of the classical canon. The fact that Rieu's focus is on highly accessible, enjoyable repertoire is not an argument against his musical credentials."^[5]

Eamon Kelly further adds, after hearing the orchestra perform, that there is "no cause" for Rieu's boast his orchestra was "superior to the many other orchestras that specialise in ... Viennese and popular classical repertoire." Additionally, he found that in musical terms "the performance did not surpass playing standards in Australia's major symphony orchestras". He did add that the "oboist, Arthur Cordewener, provided the most impressive musical performance with a sublime introduction to an otherwise unremarkable performance of [Ravel's] Boléro."^[5]

David Templeton, writing in the magazine All Things Strings says:

Ironically, it is Rieu’s own success that has earned him a horse-drawn carriage full of criticism, a pot-shot laden backlash aimed chiefly at the calculated emotionalism and theatrical flourishes of his performances, which, according to many, only cheapen the classical-music experience. Classical radio stations avoid his music as they might avoid a leper in the mall, though—let’s just say it plain and clear—Rieu is a superb violinist.^[6]

Chris Boyd, a critic writing for Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper, finds that he could not give a general criticism of the playing of Rieu, as, except for "a clean and lyrical solo in Waltzing Matilda", his main stage function was apparently "blarney and delegation". However, Boyd also comments that the quality of the artists that Rieu works with is "extraordinary". Boyd assesses the low points of the concert as the "Three Tenors-style" rendition of "Nessun dorma" which he finds was an "abomination", while saying the concert's highlights included "a sugar-shock sweet rendition" of "O mio babbino caro" as well as Strauss's Emperor Waltz and Blue Danube, Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary and the Boléro.^[7]

Personal life[link]

He is married to Marjorie, who works with him full-time as production manager, and has two sons, Marc and Pierre. He speaks (in order of fluency) Dutch, English, German, French, Italian and Spanish.

Honours[link]

• Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion (Netherlands, 2002)
• Honorary Medal of the Province of Limburg (Netherlands, 2009)
• Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France, 2009)

Selected discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• André Rieu (official website)
• Official André Rieu Facebook page
• André Rieu on Twitter
• Official André Rieu YouTube Channel
• André Rieu's Official Australian website
• André Rieu (C Music TV Biography)
• André Rieu at Allmusic
• The Magic of Andre Rieu

Connie Talbot
Talbot at Sutton Park, March 2012.
Background information
Born	(2000-11-20) 20 November 2000 (age 11)[1]
Origin	Streetly, Aldridge, England
Genres	Pop
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2007–present
Website	connietalbot.com

Connie Talbot (born 20 November 2000) is an English child singer from Streetly, Aldridge. She rose to fame in 2007 when she reached the final of the first series of Britain's Got Talent, where she was runner-up to Paul Potts. Talbot was supposed to sign with Sony BMG but the label pulled out of the deal due to her age.

Talbot signed with Rainbow Recording Company and released her debut album Over the Rainbow in the UK on 26 November 2007. The album was re-released 18 June 2008 with a new track listing, and the first single from the album, a cover of Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds", was released on 10 June.

Despite its negative critical reception, Over the Rainbow has sold over 250,000 copies worldwide and reached number one in three countries. Since the initial album release, Talbot has performed publicly and on television in Europe, the U.S. and across Asia, where her music had gained recognition through YouTube. Her second album, Connie Talbot's Christmas Album, was released on 24 November 2008; her third, Holiday Magic, was released in late 2009. While pursuing her musical career, Talbot attends school, and lives in Streetly with her family.

History[link]

[edit] Britain's Got Talent and Sony BMG

Talbot initially auditioned for the first series of television reality show Britain's Got Talent for fun, but her confidence increased when Simon Cowell, whom she is said to have idolised,^[2] described her as "pure magic" and said that he would make her earn "£1 million-plus this year".^[2] The judges expected a "joke" performance and she had never taken singing lessons, but Talbot's initial performance received international press coverage.^[3] She reached the final round after winning her semi-final with a live performance of "Ben" by Michael Jackson.^[4] On the night of the final, she sang The Wizard of Oz's "Over the Rainbow", but lost to Paul Potts as a result of the call-in vote.^[5][6] Talbot and Potts had been joint favourites to win the series.^[7][8]

Talbot during the recording of "Smile" for Sony BMG

According to journalist and Britain's Got Talent judge Piers Morgan, Talbot's performances resulted in many children, including Faryl Smith, auditioning for the second series of the show.^[9] After his victory, series 2 winner George Sampson spoke of his participation in the first series, where he was knocked out before the live shows, saying "I don't think I had any shot of winning last year ... When you look at the standard of Paul Potts and Connie Talbot. Paul Potts is out of this league, and Connie is out of this league – I wasn't good enough."^[10] Talbot voted for Sampson, saying "I liked his dancing – he was good on the lamppost".^[11]

Cowell had preliminarily agreed to sign Talbot with his own record label, Sony BMG. After recording two songs in London with Talbot ("Over the Rainbow" and "Smile"^[2]), the label pulled out of the deal.^[12] Talbot's mother, Sharon, said she was told that her daughter "...was too young to be their sort of artist", adding "We have been told to look for a company which looks after children."^[13][14] In a statement, the label said "there was some deliberation over the possibility of recording with Connie ... However, the decision not to proceed was made with the best intentions for Connie, taking into consideration her age and that it would not be right to do so at this time."^[13] Cowell himself said that "when the time is right, [he would] be delighted to see if [they could] make it work".^[13] The Talbot family decided to search for another label, saying "while [Talbot] loves what she's doing it would be cruel to stop her. Fame and money will never matter."^[2]

[edit] Over the Rainbow

In October 2007 Talbot signed with the Rainbow Recording Company for a six-figure deal.^[14] Rainbow Recording Company, an offshoot of record label Rhythm Riders made specifically for Talbot,^[2] was due to release Talbot's first album on 26 November 2007.^[14] It was later reported that the album was named Over the Rainbow, and the first single, "Over the Rainbow"/"White Christmas", would be released on 3 December 2007.^[2] Experts predicted that she had a good chance of getting the Christmas number one,^[2][14] but the single was cancelled in favour of an album-first release.^[15] Before the album was released, there was much speculation about Talbot and the album, with music experts describing her as potentially being "the next Charlotte Church".^[16]

Talbot at the Olympic Studios during the recording of Over the Rainbow

The team behind the album consisted of John Arnison, who also managed Gabrielle and Billy Ocean, and Marc Marot, former managing director of Island Records.^[2] It was produced and mixed by Simon Hill and Rob May.^[17] Arnison revealed that he and his team "are not going to give [Talbot] singing lessons – we don't need to", and said that when he met Talbot, he was "blown away".^[18] A schedule was worked out allowing Talbot to continue with her normal school activities while recording the album in her aunt Vicky's spare bedroom, which her mother described as "a better solution [than Sony BMG offered] which has not robbed her of her childhood".^[2] Although Arnison claimed he did not "want to put her through the promotional grind which most artists go through because she is too young", plans were made for an appearance on daytime television programme This Morning, as well as an appearance on Children in Need on 16 November 2007.^[2] The album was released on 26 November 2007 and Talbot's mother said that "All the family is really excited, but Connie is quite blase about it."^[19] The album was certified gold in early December,^[20] with Talbot being presented a gold disc by Phillip Schofield on This Morning.^[21] Initially, 50,000 copies of the album were pressed, but an additional 120,000 had to be made after the album sold out in days.^[21]

In late 2007, public appearances by Talbot included headlining the Great Bridge Christmas and Winter Festival, which local police threatened to cancel unless crowds clamouring to reach the tent in which Talbot was performing could be brought under control.^[20] At the event, on 7 December 2007, Talbot said "I love it here, it’s brilliant, really fun", but had to be ushered off-stage by the police.^[20] Talbot performed publicly in Walsall's HMV store, and in Birmingham's Centenary Square.^[22] TV appearances included GMTV and Channel 5 news, both on 26 November 2007.^[22] According to her mother, Talbot has received offers for film roles. Sharon said "[Talbot]'s been sent a script, I haven't had a good look at it yet but it's really exciting ... Connie's a singer, not an actress, so we'll see what happens. It's completely up to her whether or not she wants to do it. I can't believe it, though."^[20]

Sharon Mawer of Allmusic praised Over the Rainbow by saying "She can sing, for a seven year old, and most of the notes (if not all of them) are in the right order and sung to the right pitch; the timing is fine too".^[23] However, she criticised the album, saying "there's no feeling, no emotion, no realisation of what each song is about; they're just pretty little songs", giving the album 2/5.^[23] Nick Levine, of Digital Spy, said in a review of the album that Talbot had a "sweet, pure voice", but that there is "no nuance or depth to her performance".^[24] However, he said that "There's something inherently wrong about awarding a star rating to a seven-year-old", and that "the decidedly adult concept of musical merit should have nothing to do with [her music]", awarding the album 2/5.^[24]

The album was rereleased on 16 June 2008,^[25] but was available for pre-order in May, with three new tracks to replace its Christmas-themed songs.^[26][27][28] The first single from the album, "Three Little Birds", was released in June 2008, and a video for the song was shot in Jamaica.^[25] In April and May 2008, Talbot toured Asia to promote Over the Rainbow.^[29] Asian press attributed her success to her videos on YouTube, with the Sun.Star mentioning that her most viewed video had been watched over 14 million times,^[28] and The Straits Times saying that videos of Talbot's performances have been watched over 30 million times.^[29] The tour made stops in South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, and Talbot and her family returned to England in late May.^[30] Following the tour, it was reported that the album had reached number one on the charts in Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong,^[25][30] as well as reaching number three in Singapore.^[30] After the tour, Talbot travelled to Poland, where she performed on television.^[11]

It was also revealed that Over the Rainbow was due for release in America in September,^[31] resulting in attention from American press sources including Fox Business Network and MarketWatch.^[32][33] The U.S. version was eventually released on 14 October,^[34] with Talbot appearing on American television shows including The Ellen DeGeneres Show to publicise the release.^[35]

In August 2008, it was announced that Talbot had signed a contract with Data Design Interactive for production of a video game on the Wii console. The game was to feature 15 songs from Over the Rainbow, allowing players to sing along with a computer-generated image of Talbot or against other players in a karaoke mode.^[31][36] Talbot rerecorded the album for the game.^[37] The game was scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2009,^[35] and is called Connie Talbot: Over the Rainbow.^[38] The game hasn't been released yet as of 2011, citing copyright issues on the songs used for it.

[edit] Christmas Album and Holiday Magic

In November 2008, it was announced that Talbot had produced a series of new songs for an album.^[39] Recorded in her bedroom studio, Connie Talbot's Christmas Album was released on 24 November.^[40] It is a Christmas themed album,^[40] featuring, according to Talbot's official website, "a mix of classics and modern Christmas tunes".^[39] News was also released of a one-off Christmas special to be shown on ITV1 in the days leading up to Christmas, featuring footage of Talbot's journey to America and a "secret concert" at her primary school.^[41] The documentary, Christmas with Connie, was shown on ITV Central on 18 December.^[38] Talbot appeared at Walsall's HMV branch shortly after the release of her Christmas Album to sign copies and meet fans.^[42] She then embarked on a promotional tour making stops around the world, which included a performance at Ewha Womans University in Korea,^[43] and a performance on the A Heart for Children television charity gala in Berlin, Germany.^[44] She returned home in mid December, to have "a quiet family Christmas".^[45]

Connie Talbot's Christmas Album was difficult to obtain in Britain after the distributor, Pinnacle Entertainment, went into administration. Talbot's mother, Sharon, was quoted as saying "We don't really know what's going to happen at the moment ... We think they'll probably wait and promote the album later this year. It's a shame, but they can still get the album in Asia and the US."^[46] Reviewing the album for FemaleFirst magazine, Ruth Harrison gave it 4/5, saying that Talbot has "a great voice when it comes to swing, but lets us down in parts".^[47]

In April 2009, Talbot again travelled to the U.S. in order to publicise her new single, a cover of "I Will Always Love You". The single was released in the U.S. on 7 April, along with a newly recorded "You Raise Me Up".^[48] Talbot then travelled to the U.S. on 30 April, and returned on 2 May.^[49] Appearances included a performance on Good Day New York on Fox Broadcasting Company's WNYW.^[50]

Talbot's third album, Connie Talbot's Holiday Magic, was released on 20 October 2009 in the United States and on 30 November 2009 in the United Kingdom. The United States album is dedicated to the Toys for Tots campaign, of which Talbot has been named the child ambassador. In a statement, Bill Grein, Vice President of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, said-

The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation is extremely proud and excited to have Connie as our youngest ambassador ever ... She is the perfect person to inform the public of the millions of less fortunate children who may be overlooked this Christmas holiday season, unless people step up to donate a toy or make a cash contribution. Her angelic looks and voice will remind everyone of the innocence of children. And they all deserve to experience the magic of the holiday season! I hope she sells lots of CDs and raises a lot of money and awareness for our children.^[51]

2010–present[link]

This section requires expansion with: Details about her appearance at the 2010 G-20 Seoul_summit.

Talbot performed for her largest ever audience when she performed on Chinese state television during the Chinese new-year in 2011.^[52] Reporting the event, the Daily Mail's Kathryn Knight observed that Talbot has "had more than 300  million hits on YouTube and in the Far East, in particular, she's something of an icon. Japan, Taiwan, Korea, China, Brazil, Mexico and the U.S. — you name it, Connie’s a star there. In fact Connie is in huge demand across the globe — everywhere, that is, apart from her native Britain."^[53] Viewing figures for the event were estimated to be around 400 million.^[53][54][55]

Talbot backstage at "Young Voices"

During this time, Talbot continued to upload videos of her performances onto YouTube. Maggie Coughlan, of PopEater.com, praised her covers of Katy Perry's "Firework" and Bruno Mars's "Grenade", but was most impressed by her cover of Adele's "Someone Like You", which she said was performed "with such grace that she makes the entire performance look effortless".^[56] The video was also picked up by PerezHilton.com.^[57] After the death of Whitney Houston, Talbot posted a cover version of "Run to You" as a tribute to Houston. The video received attention from around the world, and became the most "liked" video in the UK.^[58]

On 28 November 2011, Talbot released "Beautiful World" as a single on iTunes. The song was written by Talbot when she was seven. A demo of the track was placed on YouTube, and became the 39th most watched video in the world on the day it was uploaded.^[59]

In March 2012, Talbot performed with and led Young Voices, a choir made up of around 7000 primary school children, at the O2 Arena for four nights. The choir broke the world-record for being the largest backing choir for a lead vocalist.^[60] This Guinness world record followes her accolades as the youngest artist to make the UK album charts ^[61] and the youngest to release a gold-selling record.^[62] Others involved in the event included Randolph Matthews and The High Kings,^[63] and performances took place elsewhere in the United Kingdom, including Manchester and Birmingham.^[64] The performances were in aid of CLIC Sargent, a children's cancer charity.^[65]

Personal life[link]

Talbot lives in Streetly, in the West Midlands, and currently attends a state primary school.^[66] She lives with her mother, Sharon, her father Gavin, a self-employed property maintenance engineer, her older brother Josh, and her sister, Mollie.^[2][67] Talbot sang "Over the Rainbow", her signature song, at her grandmother's funeral, because she and her grandmother had enjoyed watching The Wizard of Oz together.^[67] Talbot drew confidence in Britain's Got Talent from the belief that her grandmother was watching, and vowed to win the show in her memory.^[2] Despite Talbot speaking positively of the effects of her fame, her parents spoke of a darker side, including having to change their phone number and hire a bodyguard for their daughter.^[2]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]