VIENNA IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA

Das VIENNA IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA tritt im Rahmen der neuen Reihe Sonoric Reflections des AIL – Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab in der ehemaligen Kassenhalle der Otto Wagner-Postsparkasse auf, um den „space as a body of sound and experience“ (AIL) zu explorieren.

Nika Zach – voice
Claudia Cervenca – voice
Sun Sun Yap – voice
Radim Hanousek – clarinet (Gastmusiker)
Elisabeth Kelvin – clarinet
Anna Koch – clarinet
Emily Stewart – violin
Simon Frick – violin
Judith Reiter – viola
Maria Frodl – cello
Clemens Sanitzer – cello
John Edwards – upright-bass (Gastmusiker)
Michael Zacherl – scivolo

instant composition conducting by Michael Fischer

John Edwards (London) und Radim Hanousek (Brno), beide Musiker der Freien Improvisatiosszene, werden erstmals im VIO mitwirken.

Creating conducted instant compositions, the VIENNA IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA engages in a special discourse of non-notated, experimental composition and complex improvised music for large ensembles. Creating an ad hoc architecture of music with a vocabulary of hand signs, the VIO works close to developments by Bruno Maderna or John Zorn, particularely within a continuation of Butch Morris’ Conduction, and has a remote relationship to Soundpainting.
Nevertheless, the VIO developed its own praxis, with following parameters: no rehearsals, no pre-prepared or agreed-upon parts/modules/designs; just an introductory explanation of the hand signs and a brief try out; absolute instant creation even by the conductor; the instant composition conducting is conveyed by quite few hand signs, about 15 only.
– A terrain for an unforeseen universe of possible sound-spaces and -images unfolds, potentiated by the fact, that every performance provides a new ensemble constellation and involves at least one new musician.
Within ever gender-parity oriented line-ups, the VIO brings together musicians (from about 30 countries) out of the scenes of acoustic and electro-acoustic free improvised music, jazz and contemporary composed music, and collaborates with authors in experimental literature.
Guest at the legendary Moers Festival (D) in 2022, the VIO has also performed at Wien Modern, Artacts or art spaces such as Künstlerhaus Wien/factory, Belvedere21, Vienna Art Week Festival a.o..
VIO’s artistic director Michael Fischer works on the language immanence of sounds and their dramatic evidence on tenor saxophone/feedback-saxophone, on soundscapes, and, as instant composition conductor for improvisation orchestras and temporary large ensembles for festivals and guest lectures in Europe, Canada, the USA and Japan. The VIENNA IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA was founded by Michael Fischer in 2004; it is one of the earliest and continuously working impovisation orchestras in Europe.