Vienna Improvisers Orchestra

NIKA ZACH voice
ISABELL KARGL voice
BOGLARKA BABICZKI voice
ELISABETH KELVIN clarinet, bass-cl.
LISA HOFMANINGER bass-cl., sop. saxophone
MARIA GSTÄTTNER bassoon
THOMAS LIESINGER trumpet
EMILY STEWART violin
JUDITH REITER viola
CHRISTIANE HÖRLEIN viola
MARIA FRODL cello
FREDL ENGELMAYR prepared guitar
YORAM ROSILIO upright-bass
MATHEUS JARDIM drums

instant composition conducting - MICHAEL FISCHER

live drawing performance, ceiling projection by BARBARA KLAMPFL

With its praxis of instant composition conducting, the VIENNA IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA engages in a special discourse of unnotated experimental composition and complex improvised music for large ensembles.
Based on a vocabulary of hand signs, momentary compositions arise from the oscillation between structure giving ad hoc conducting and ensemble improvisation.
Instant composition conducting, which is based on Butch Morris’ method of hand sign conducting called Conduction, was developed by Michael Fischer into a praxis that follows certain principles:
1. Absolute ad hoc creation—on the part of both the ensemble and the conductor; there are no prepared or agreed-upon modules/designs. 2. No rehearsals, only a short try-out of the hand signs before the concert begins. 3. the ensemble is grouped according to instruments, 4. the few (approx. 20) hand signs are used sparingly, 5. the instant compositions have long, narrative progressions of 35–50 minutes, 6. each concert features a new ensemble constellation and usually includes at least one new musician.

The VIO has performed at the legendary Moers Festival for Jazz and Improvised Music (Germany), where its concert in the packed festival hall was acclaimed with minutes of standing ovations; it has been a guest at Wien Modern, the Artacts-Festival for Improvised Music and Jazz, Porgy & Bess, Brut Wien, Klima Biennale Wien and at central locations for the visual arts such as Belvedere21, Künstlerhaus Wien, Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab/Die Angewandte Wien, Vienna Art Week Festival, Art Brut Center Gugging, and others.

The VIENNA IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA was founded by Michael Fischer in 2004; it is one of the earliest and most continuously active improvisation orchestras in the world.

MICHAEL FISCHER, artistic director and instant composition conductor of the VIO, works on the speech immanence of sounds and their dramatic evidence on the tenor saxophone, on the feedback saxophone he developed, and on soundscapes/fixed media compositions in collaboration with writers of experimental literature. As an instant composition conductor, he leads international improvisation orchestras and temporary large ensembles for festivals and guest lectures in Europe, Canada, the USA, and Japan, including the Johns Hopkins Univ. Maryland/USA, Univ. of California Irvine, Festival Internacional de Improvisación Madrid, Wien Modern, Deriva Jazz Festival/ES, Traumzeitfestival/DE, Creative Music Festival/JAP, Renzo Piano Building/IT, Univ. of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Bruckner Univ. Linz, Janacek Academy of Music & Performing Arts/CZ, Univ. of Montenegro Music Academy, Univ. of Architecture Vaduz, among others.