Das erste Wiener Gemüseorchester

The Vegetable Orchestra (also: First Vienna Vegetable Orchestra, The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra, The Vegetable Orchestra) used a variety of vegetables as musical instruments.

This unusually instrumented orchestra was founded in January 1998 in Vienna. Since then it belong to twelve persons who deal in many different ways with art and music.

The instruments used various kinds of vegetables, for example hollowed cucumbers or carrots serve as flutes or ( with a bell from peppers ) as trumpets. Occasionally, kitchen appliances such as blenders, juicers, knives or graters are used for sound support. Essential for the vegetable Music is the collaboration with the sound of the ensemble. Using a special miking - a mixture of condenser, vocal and contact microphones - the gain of the often very sensitive and soft tones of the vegetable orchestra is made possible.

The game is played notes, but not according to the old familiar, but graphical boxes show the musicians, when their use in the piece comes from. You will still to be free, as they use this period, whether for a longer or shorter tones, loud or quiet. This ensures, together with the fact that for every appearance of the vegetable orchestra the instruments must be re- manufactured and these anyway unlike traditional instruments sound, even with known pieces of music - whether classical or modern - for a new listening experience. The repertoire of the orchestra include original compositions as well as interpretations, for example, of pieces by Igor Stravinsky, the German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk and the Viennese sound formation Radian.

Following each concert, the musical instruments are back to what they really are: vegetables. A to the vegetable orchestra belonging cooking made ​​of the instruments a vegetable soup that is distributed to concertgoers.

The orchestra occurs in Europe, United States and Asia, including the Vienna Konzerthaus, at the Easter Festival in Salzburg, the Sonar ( Festival) in Barcelona, ​​during the Roma Europa Festival in Rome and at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The TV station ARTE dedicated to them as a documentation tool.

As sources of inspiration for this unique orchestra music conceptions of Fluxus, such as compositions by John Cage ( Branches, 1976), as well as strong influences from the sound art and experimental and electronic music can be considered. Since 2004 the orchestra optionally works with various video artists, expand the sound experience using special micro-cameras on the stage at a visual level. A performance by the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra is an exciting blend of performance and concert.

Ensemble

The ensemble is composed of a heterogeneous group of artists who understand their interdisciplinarity as an integral part of their musical self-image, therefore working together to research and development of vegetable music and call themselves " GemüsikerInnen ". Thus, apart trained musicians, both sculptors, architects, designers, and media artists, writers and poets sound in the orchestra. The ensemble consists of: Christina Bauer, Jürgen Berlakovich, Nicholas Gansterer, Susanna Gart Mayer, Barbara Kaiser, Matthias Meinharter, Jörg Piringer, Richard Repey, Maria Monika Steinauer, Ingrid Schlögl, Ulrich Troyer, Tamara Wilhelm, Klaus Hallmann and Lutz Nerger.

Discography

• Album Gemise The First Vienna Vegetable Orchestra, Extra plate or Institute of Transpersonal acoustic research 1999
• Album Automate The First Vienna Vegetable Orchestra, trans acoustic research ( extra plate ) 2003
• Album Onionoise The Vegetable Orchestra, trans acoustic research / monkey. ( rough trade ) 2010

More releases:

• Album construction sounds (Sampler, 1999)
• Album hearings (Sampler, trans acoustic research 2003)