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In 1978 André Rieu ran into his old fellow student Gemma Serpenti who asked him to join the small orchestra I Glissandi, that mainly played light classical music. In that very same year, Rieu transformed I Glissandi into a professional ensemble: the Maastrichts Salon Orkest.

The orchestra ceased to exist in this form in 1987 when Rieu transformed it again into the bigger Johann Strauß Orchestra

In 2016 the Maastrichts Salon Orkest was revived by André Rieu with five members of the Johann Strauß Orchestra. Rieu himself is not part of the orchestra in its current form.