With his Stradivarius violin made in 1732, Dutch musician André Rieu will arrive in China for the first time with his Johann Strauss Orchestra to play at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai on Saturday.

The 65-year-old violinist and conductor's concerts have appeared on Billboard's annual Top 25 Earning Tours list since 2009. The only classical musician on the list, he beat out Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars with a total gross of $49,983,266 last year.

As one of the few classical musicians who has also had great commercial success, Rieu has been dubbed the "King of Waltz." Believing that classical music can be enjoyable for everyone, he uses his commercial success to argue against the common idea that "most people would be afraid to go to a concert."

Rieu first hit it big when he was invited to play one of Shostakovitch's pieces during a soccer match between Ajax Amsterdam and FC Bayern in the Amsterdam stadium in 1994.

"Suddenly everyone knew me, it was a fascinating experience. And it proves that you can be extremely successful with classical music, you just have to try again and again to make people aware of it," Rieu said sharing his experience in an e-mail to the Global Times.

Rieu founded his Johann Strauss Orchestra, named after the famous Austrian Waltz composer, in 1987 with only 12 members. Now, the troupe has grown to 43 members, and sometimes on very large stages will even have 50 musicians.

Unlike the way most classical musicians play on stage, Rieu keeps his concerts vibrant and humorous by interacting with audiences. "I play music that will touch your heart, that will make you weep, smile and fall in love. I love to see the reactions in the audience," he wrote. "It's wonderful. Even on stage I see everything that's going on down there in the audience, so be aware (laughs)."