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The History of the VAO:
The Vienna Art Orchestra, one of Europe’s leading big bands, was created in Vienna in 1977 by mathias rüegg. After a short but intensively "activist" beginning, the young sound "phenomenon" conquered the concert halls of Europe with its audacious post-modern style, which encompassed the extremes of avantgarde and idiosyncratic Viennese Schmäh, as exemplified by the early recordings Tango from Obango, From No Time to Rag Time and The Minimalism of Erik Satie. In the late 1980s, the original 10-year-old line-up - which included Wolfgang Puschnig, Lauren Newton, Roman Schwaller, Wolfgang Reisinger, John Sass and Christian Radovan - gradually fell apart. A period of re-orientation followed, which only came to an end in 1992, with the success of the programs Fe&Males and La Belle et la Bête. A second generation formed the core of the orchestra thereafter, including: Matthieu Michel, Andy Scherrer, Klaus Dickbauer and Florian Bramböck, together with Bumi Fian and Harry Sokal.

In 1997, the VAO played with a smaller line-up after long-term members such as Herbert Joos, Uli Scherer and Heiri Känzig left the band. In 1998, thanks to Thorsten Benkenstein, it was enlarged to form a big band. Moving beyond its early avantgarde days, it evolved into a mature musical ensemble which ever since has consistently focused on developing well-planned programs in which dramaturgical and visual aspects are incorporated from beginning to end, with due respect paid to both European and American jazz traditions. Over the years, rüegg has sometimes spent less time composing and more time arranging thematic programs, such as the European Songbook, Nine Immortal (Non)Evergreens for Eric Dolphy, Ballads, American Rhapsody, Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love and All That Strauss. However, with the programs, Artistry in Rhythm, A Centenary Journey and art&fun.25, he asserted himself as a composer in a major way.

At once European and in a larger sense multi-national, the VAO is a rarity among large ensembles in that its members are all top-notch soloists who are capable of blending in an impeccable way to produce a homogenous sound. It shines with an overall brilliance without special focus on a few high-magnitude stars.

At present, the VAO’s pool of musicians is larger and younger than ever before and it keeps on changing according to the stylistic requirements of each program. Chief among the regulars are: Thomas Gansch, Arkady Schilkloper, Christian Muthspiel, Adrian Mears, Robert Bachner, Herwig Gradischnig, Martin Koller, Allegre Correa, Georg Breinschmid, Robert Riegler, Mario Gonzi & Jojo Mayer. Notably, since 2001, the VAO has been endowed with two types of rhythm sections, both electric and acoustic. Voice has also played a considerable role, with Anna Lauvergnac, Urszula Dudziak, Corin Curschellas and Lauren Newton taking turns as the orchestra’s vocalist.
2007 was the year of the trilogy "3" comprised of 39 compositions, conceived as encounters between the American and European cultures, in which thirteen American actresses meet thirteen European intellectuals. American Dreams, European Visionaries and Visionaries & Dreams were the names of these three programs which the VAO presented in 78 concerts to celebrate its 30th anniversary jubilee.
In 2009, the VAO is undergoing a major change as it moves beyond its last 10 years as a big band to reinvent itself as a chamber orchestra. The new program, penned by m.rüegg and featuring jazz soloists Harry Sokal, Juraj Bartos and Nico Gori, has taken the title Third Dream.

Over the past 27 years, the VAO has given more than 900 concerts in over 55 countries and has made more than 40 recordings. It has received many awards and is officially recognized as a cultural representative of Austria and has already been widely lauded, also in the USA.Now, as before, there are some fantastic young talents here to discover and who are worth following, such as the pianist Johanna Gröbner, the flutist Thomas Frey, and Austria’s own bassoonist Mattias Kronsteiner.

On 9 July 2010,due to financial difficulties, rüegg disbanded the VAO, after their last concert in Viktring/Klagenfurt, at which he presented six of his own arrangements of Mahler lieder.