The Vienna Art Orchestra was a European jazz group based in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
. Organized at different times as either a
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...
or as a smaller combo, it was regarded as one of the leading European jazz ensembles and was an official cultural ambassador of the Republic of Austria.
History
Founded in 1977 by director and composer
Mathias Rüegg
Mathias Rüegg (born 8 December 1952) is a European musician, composer, and bandleader best known as founder and director of the Vienna Art Orchestra from 1977 to 2010.
Biography
Born in Zurich, Switzerland, son of linguist Robert Rüegg,Math ...
, the band started out by performing Rüegg's postmodern compositions on stages throughout Europe. Among the founding musicians were singer Lauren Newton, saxophonists
Wolfgang Puschnig
Wolfgang Puschnig (born 21 May 1956 in Klagenfurt, Austria) is an Austrian jazz musician (saxophone, flute, bass clarinet) and composer.
Biography
After his studies of saxophone and flute at the Vienna Conservatory Puschnig was the founding ...
Christian Radovan
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ (title), Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive ...
, tuba player
Jon Sass
Jon is a shortened form of the common given name Jonathan, derived from "YHWH has given", and an alternate spelling of John, derived from "YHWH has pardoned".mallet percussionist
Woody Schabata
Woody may refer to:
Biology
* Pertaining to wood, a plant tissue and material
* Woody plant, a plant with a rigid stem containing wood
* Pertaining to woodland, land covered with trees
* Woody, slang for a penile erection
People and fictional ch ...
. In 1980, the ensemble signed a recording contract with the Swiss hatART label, and in 1984 they toured the United States for the first time.
The group essentially disbanded for a brief period at the end of the 1980s. In 1992, the VAO opened a new phase with a smaller complement of musicians. The band played fewer of Rüegg's compositions and concentrated on arrangements of works by
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
,
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and ...
, and other noted American jazz composers, as well as music inspired by the classical music of
Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
,
Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
,
Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
, and
Erik Satie
Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...
.
In 1997, the ensemble's personnel changed once again, increasing in size and adding younger musicians. New compositions by Rüegg became a regular feature of VAO concerts, which often included visual and dramatic elements.
The Vienna Art Orchestra has performed more than 800 concerts and released more than 35 recordings. The film ''An Echo from Europe: Vienna Art Orchestra on Tour'' by
Othmar Schmiderer
Othmar, also spelled Otmar or Ottmar, is a masculine German given name, derived from the Germanic name ''Audamar'', from the elements ''aud'' "wealth, prosperity" and ''mar'' "fame".
Notable people with the name include:
* Saint Othmar
*Othmar A ...
was released in 1998.
The ensemble was nominated for an
Amadeus Austrian Music Award
The Amadeus Austrian Music Awards is the annual awards ceremony for excellence in the Austrian music industry. It has been awarded to the most successful Austrian musicians since 2000, and has been held in the Volkstheater in Vienna each March si ...
in 2001 for the album ''All That Strauss'', and again in 2003 for ''Art and Fun''.
On July 10, 2010, Mathias Rüegg announced that the Vienna Art Orchestra had been disbanded for financial reasons.
Discography
Vienna Art Orchestra
Vienna Art Special
Vienna Art Choir
Vienna Art Orchestra with Ernst Jandl
See also
*
List of experimental big bands
Experimental jazz big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands orig ...