When composer and saxophonist Ludwig Bekic founded the sixteen-member Wednesday Night Prayer Orchestra three years ago, they met weekly to play big band music at the Little Stage in Vienna. Initially, the music of the old masters Duke Ellington, Carla Bley, Gil Evans, and, of course, their namesake Charles Mingus, formed their shared musical ground. Through free improvisation and tailor-made arrangements, the goal was to unite the diverse personalities of the Viennese jazz scene within a single ensemble.

This initial exploration was followed by numerous musical excursions. These included delving into the archives of the ORF Big Band, collaborating with Christian Radovan and his music from the Clarke-Boland Big Band, and performing Hans Koller's rarely heard, yet still highly relevant, big band suites.

Sixty concerts later, and virtually still with the original lineup from their first performance, the mere "project" has matured into a fully-fledged band. In the following year of its existence, the Wednesday Night Prayer Orchestra dedicates itself to its own compositions: Lukas Aichinger, Ludwig Bekic, Helene Glüxam, and Áki Wellsandt contribute their works: complex, heterogeneous, sometimes satirical pieces, always in open dialogue with jazz and its related genres, and consistently providing a platform for the intimate solo cadenzas and multi-layered improvisations of these eloquent musicians.

The workshop concerts continue to take place at Vienna's Little Stage in the third season. An evening at the ORF RadioKulturhaus concludes a three-day recording session for their debut album. And from September 2026, the "most working jazz orchestra in town" will be the stageband at Vienna's Jazzclub Porgy & Bess for ten months.