Mirusia Louwerse

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Mirusia Louwerse
File:Mirusia Louwerse, 2012.jpg
Louwerse at the 2012 ARIA No. 1 Chart Awards
Background information
Born (1985-03-29) 29 March 1985 (age 39)
Origin Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Genres Classical, classical crossover, operatic pop
Occupation(s) Singer
Instruments Vocals
Years active 2006–present
Associated acts André Rieu
Website mirusia.net

Mirusia Louwerse (born 29 March 1985) is an Australian[1] soprano. She performs as Mirusia and is seen by one online source as "The Unconventional Pop Star".[2]

Career

Louwerse was born in Brisbane, Australia, and attended Ormiston College.[3] She graduated in December 2006 from the Queensland Conservatorium in Brisbane obtaining a Bachelor of Music in Performance in Classical Voice. In 2006, Louwerse became the youngest ever winner of the Dame Joan Sutherland Opera Award[4] and went on to record a debut album entitled She Walks in Beauty.

Louwerse is a lyric soprano and has performed in such operas as Mozart's The Magic Flute, Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges and Britten's Albert Herring.[citation needed]

Her aunt, who lives in the Netherlands, contacted André Rieu to tell him about her niece's talent. He listened to her voice on her website and phoned her straight away and two days later she was standing before him in his studio ready to sing.[1]

She has been touring with Dutch violinist and conductor André Rieu since 2007 as soprano soloist.[5] She is of Dutch descent and can speak Dutch fluently. In May 2008, André Rieu and Louwerse released an album entitled Waltzing Matilda in Australia which made it to the number one position on the Australian music charts and went platinum within ten days.[citation needed] On Rieu's DVD I Lost My Heart in Heidelberg (2009) she sings the title song "Ich hab' mein Herz in Heidelberg verloren", as well as "Zwei kleine Italiener", "In mir klingt ein Lied", and (with Carla Maffioletti and the Berlin Comedian Harmonists) "Adieu, mein kleiner Gardeoffizier".[6]

File:Mirusia Louwerse 2011 P1010790.jpg
Louwerse, January 2011

Her album Always & Forever was released in Australia on 8 October 2010, and went straight to #1 on the ARIA classical charts[citation needed] and #17 on the ARIA pop charts.[7] It was released in The Netherlands in December 2010 and reached #26 on the Dutch pop charts.[citation needed] Her DVD Always & Forever was released in March 2011 and stayed at the #1 position on the ARIA DVD charts for 4 weeks.[8] In 2012 Louwerse won the ARIA #1 Chart Award for Always & Forever and was the only classical artist to receive such an award.[9]

Louwerse is an ambassador for the Australian Children's Music Foundation[10] and believes strongly that if children are exposed to music or are involved in music, they will grow up to be better human beings. In 2010 and 2012, Louwerse participated in two concerts to raise funds for the ACMF, which raised more than $100,000 for music in schools in Australia.[citation needed] She is the Star Ambassador for the Dutch Social Network Foundation, who help raise funds for sick children and their parents and source important medical equipment and treatments through social networking.[11]

In 2013, Mirusia performed with Andre Rieu at the Coronation Concert of the New King of The Netherlands King Willem Alexander. [12] In this same year, to celebrate Benjamin Britten's 100th birthday, she performed under the baton of John Curro with the Queensland Youth Symphony Britten's War Requiem in the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.[13]

Her latest releases have been a CD and DVD entitled 'Beautiful That Way' filmed live in Maastricht, and 2014 sees the release of her new album 'My Favorite Things'.

Discography

Year Album title
2006 She Walks in Beauty (Independent release and no longer available)
2007 Songs of Inspiration (ABC Classics)
2008 Waltzing Matilda (album) (Universal Music Australia) #1 ARIA pop charts
2008 Waltzing Matilda – Special New Zealand Edition (Universal Music New Zealand)
2008 Ich tanze mit Dir in den Himmel Hinein (Universal Music Germany)
2008 Passionnément (Universal Music France)
2009 I Lost My Heart in Heidelberg (André Rieu DVD)
2010 Always & Forever (CD) (Universal Music Australia and Universal Music Netherlands) #1 classical charts
2011 Always & Forever (DVD) (Universal Australia) #1 ARIA DVD charts
2012 Home (Independent Release)
2013 Beautiful That Way (CD & DVD) (Timbre Records) European Release
2014 Beautiful That Way (CD & DVD) (Timbre Records/Universal Australia)
2014 My Favorite Things (CD) (Timbre Records) European Release

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mirusia Louwerse at andrerieu.com
  2. ↑ "The Unconventional Pop Star", interview by Paul Cashmere, 3 December 2010, undercover.fm
  3. ↑ "Lifelong Achievers", Ormiston College
  4. ↑ Media releases at Noosa Federation of the Arts; accessed 11 January 2011
  5. ↑ Soloist with Andre Rieu: http://www.andrerieu.com/nl/andre-jso/het-orkest/mirusia-louwerse
  6. ↑ André Rieu – I Lost My Heart in Heidelberg at skyarts.co.uk
  7. ↑ http://www.theaureview.com/the-goss/aria-chart-news-kings-of-leon-blasts-to-the-top-of-the-aria-album-chart-on-debut
  8. ↑ http://www.ariacharts.com.au/pages/charts_display_music.asp?chart=1V40DVD
  9. ↑ http://www.aria.com.au/documents/ARIANo1ChartAwardsposteventpressrelease10Aug2012.pdf
  10. ↑ Ambassador for the Australian Children's Music Foundation
  11. ↑ "Mirusia Louwerse: Muziek zit in alle mensen", Social Network Foundation (Dutch)
  12. ↑ [1]
  13. ↑ "QYS – War Requiem, QPAC

External links

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