The lights go down as band members take the stage. This band doesn’t exactly tune up before playing. They might crinkle a bit of onion paper or tear a few cilantro leaves. That’s because the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra doesn’t use normal instruments.  

The veggie orchestra began as a joke in 1998. It all started with a humble tomato. The group has performed all over the world—340 concerts and counting! The orchestra even holds a Guiness World Record. (There aren’t many others competing for the title of most concerts by an all-veggie orchestra.) As far as its members know, they’re the only veggie orchestra on the planet. 

Are members all vegetarians? No. They just love making sounds with vegetables. Orchestra members use knives or even drills to shape the veggies. Then they make noise with the produce. 

The group has used carrot flutes, celery root bongos, leek violins, and pumpkin triangles. Some instruments use more than one vegetable, like the “cucumberphone.” That one is made from a pepper, a carrot, and a cucumber. As long as it’s fresh, just about any veggie will do.  

Some band members call themselves “purists.” They let the veggies sound like veggies. Others want the produce to make the tones one hears from real instruments. 

Members of the orchestra insist that vegetable music isn’t a joke anymore. They perform genres from jazz to classical to electronic.  

Each of the 11 musicians will play between 8 and 25 veggie instruments per concert. But the food doesn’t go to waste. After each performance, they treat audiences to fresh vegetable soup.  

Cucumberphone gazpacho, anyone? 

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. — Philippians 4:4 

Why? The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra members might have some silly ideas about music. But they rightly see wonder, purpose, and possibilities in something God made: vegetables!