Worldwide one of a kind, the Vegetable Orchestra performs on instruments made of fresh vegetables. The utilization of various ever refined vegetable instruments creates a musically and aesthetically unique sound universe.
The Vegetable Orchestra was founded in Vienna in the year 1998 and has played more than 200 concerts at very different venues (concert halls, greenhouses, mountain huts, clubs, ships, and festivals for classical, electronic, improvised and world music).
In artistic, aesthetic and infrastructural decisions of importance all twelve members of the ensemble have their equal vote. The collective is a mix of people with different artistic backgrounds. Musicians, visual artists, architects, designers, media artists, writers and sound-poets all come together here. The continued exploration and refinement of performable vegetable music is the central objective, the focus of the orchestra’s innovative quest. Each individual (and their particular creative approach) is of vital importance in sustaining the fundamental artistic objective of the Vegetable Orchestra — the artistic autonomy of this unique ensemble.
There are no musical boundaries for the Vegetable Orchestra. The most diverse music styles fuse here – contemporary music, beat-oriented House tracks, experimental Electronic, Free Jazz, Noise, Dub, Clicks’n’Cuts – the musical scope of the ensemble expands consistently, and recently developed vegetable instruments and their inherent sounds often determine the direction.
A concert of the Vegetable Orchestra appeals to all the senses. As an encore at the end of the concert and the video performance, the audience is offered fresh vegetable soup.
In artistic, aesthetic and infrastructural decisions of importance all members of the orchestra have their equal vote. The ensemble is a mix of people with different artistic backgrounds – musicians, visual artists, architects, designers, media artists, writers and sound poets all come together here.
The further exploration and refinement of performable vegetable music is a central part of the orchestra’s aesthetic quest. Every individual background that is brought into the project is of vital importance in sustaining the fundamental artistic objective of the Vegetable Orchestra.The broad variety of creative approaches at the same time secures the artistic autonomy of this unique ensemble.
The Guardian has the following to say about them in their article about the „10 Strangest Musical Instruments“
„A surprisingly diverse range of musical instruments can be made from vegetables, including pan-pipes, recorders and clarinets made from carrots. While these instruments can carry a tune, they mostly fail to create a pleasing sound. A notable exception are the instruments created by the Vegetable Orchestra of Vienna, who play concerts all over the world – and then, at the end, give audiences fresh vegetable soup.“
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