Swiss Improvisers Orchestra

The Swiss Improvisers Orchestra is an ensemble dedicated to collective improvisation, often combining free playing with conducting gestures, compositional structures and arrangements developed by the performers. The orchestra has been active since the late 1990s and gathers musicians from different parts of Switzerland.

Its Creative Sources album Zwitzerland (CS157) was recorded in November 2007 at Radio Studio Zürich. The nine-person lineup comprises Marco von Orelli, Carles Peris, Valentin Vecellio, Francis Petter, Ursula Maehr, Sabine von Werra, Christoph Baumann, Markus Fischer and Jacques Widmer. The recording documents the group's balance between individually distinctive voices and ensemble-wide changes in texture and direction.