Performers in Vienna on Saturday play stringed instruments made from debris from the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. | KYODO

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Quartet performs in Vienna with violins crafted from 3/11 tsunami debris

Kyodo

VIENNA - A string quartet performed at Minoriten Church in Vienna on Saturday with instruments made from debris from the March 2011 quake and tsunami that devastated parts of the Tohoku region.

The ensemble of musicians, from Japan and Austria, played works by Mozart and other composers as part of the Tsunami Violin Project, which aims at having 1,000 artists from around the world play the instruments.

Around 600 people, including Crown Prince Naruhito as well as the renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinist Ivry Gitlis, have so far performed with the instruments, which were crafted from driftwood and the beams of homes, since the project was launched in 2012.

One of the violins uses part of the famed “miracle pine” in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture.

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