Prior registration required, free seating

Join us for an explanatory didactic concert presented by The Recycled Orchestra and discover how sustainability can cultivate beautiful music. Performing with instruments crafted out of discarded landfill materials by local craftsmen, the orchestra transforms waste into music and hardship into opportunity.

During the concert, the musicians will share their personal journeys and stories behind these ingeniously crafted instruments.

Through live demonstrations, the audience will be able to experience the distinctive tonal qualities of these custom-made instruments and discover how imagination and creativity unlock endless possibilities.

The performance lasts for approximately 1 hour, with no intermission.

The concert on 7 November concludes with a post-performance talk featuring Ikko Yokoyama, Lead Curator of Design and Architecture, Favio Chávez, the founder and music director of The Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, and Mimi Brown, Member of M+ Council of Design and Architecture and Founder of Dewpoint.

Date and time:

7 November (Sat), 14:00

8 November (Sun), 14:00

Venue: Grand Stair

Language: Conducted in Spanish and English, with simultaneous interpretation in Cantonese

Drop-in, free seating

Brad Allgood, Juliana Penaranda-Loftus, Graham Townsley | 2015 | 84 min.

Landfill Harmonic tells the inspiring origin story of The Recycled Orchestra of Cateura.

When Luis Szarán and Favio Chavez came to Cateura to start a music school, they soon realised that they had many more students than available instruments. However, by partnering with a resourceful trash picker they managed to turn hardship and environmental waste into a story of resourcefulness and hope, by creating instruments from trash.

Later as their story went viral and under Chavez’s guidance, the orchestra soon travelled the world playing to sold out arenas and concerts, showing the resilience and transformative power of music and the resilience of the human spirit.

Date and time:

7 November (Sat), 16:00

8 November (Sun), 15:30

Venue: Grand Stair

Language: Spanish (with Chinese and English subtitles)

Date and time:

8 November (Sun), 18:00–18:30

Venue: Artist Square

The Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, directed by Argentinian environmental technician and musician Favio Chávez, is formed by children and young people from the communities near the Cateura landfill in Asunción, Paraguay.

Performing with instruments crafted by local artisans out of discarded landfill materials, the orchestra transforms waste into music and hardship into opportunity. Its wide-ranging repertoire spans classical, folk, Paraguayan and Latin American music, film scores, symphonic metal, and more.

Through music education, the orchestra fuels creativity, confidence, and future possibilities for the youth of Paraguay empowering over 450 current students and celebrating more than 1,000 graduates since 2012. The group has performed internationally at events such as The Promise of Music series presented by the Glenn Gould Foundation at the Aga Khan Museum, at Family Day events at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), World Youth Day Madrid 2011, and at South by Southwest (SXSW), among others across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

The story of the Recycled Orchestra was made into a documentary film, Landfill Harmonic, and has inspired Basura (Spanish word for rubbish), a new musical debuting at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta in 2026 before a planned move to Broadway.

This Hong Kong debut marks a special homecoming. Selected landfill-material-made instruments joined the M+ Collection in 2024 and are currently featured in the exhibition on view, Making It Matters.

Registered visitors of the 7 Nov (Sat) concert, please show your M+ Ticket, or proof of M+ Membership or Patronage at the point of admission.

Registered visitors to the 8 Nov (Sun) concert, please enter the museum via M+ Cinema Entrance.

Please arrive at the Grand Stair 20 minutes before the concert begins for admission.

M+ reserves the right to refuse admission to non-ticket holders or latecomers. Latecomers will only be admitted at a suitable break.

Audiences who leave during the performance will only be re-admitted at a suitable break.

Photography and audio or video recording is prohibited during the performance.

M+ reserves the right to make changes to the programme without prior notice.

For more event details, please contact us via email at [email protected].  In case of ticketing assistance, please contact our Ticketing Hotline at (852) 2200 0022 or email [email protected].

M+ can make accessibility arrangements for this event. If necessary, please contact us at [email protected] at least 14 days before the event.

The event will be cancelled, no matter when the signals are lowered, if:

• Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 8 or above is issued at or after 07:00, or
• Black Rainstorm Warning is issued at or after 07:00

Please note that WKCDA including its subsidiaries (collectively, “WKCDA”) may arrange to create photos, audios, videos and other forms of documentary records (collectively, “Records”) of this event, for future promotional use or non-commercial purposes, and you may be included in these Records. By participating in this event, you agree to grant full rights to WKCDA to use your image or voice in these Records without restriction or payment. Please discuss with our staff prior to your participation in the event if you have any objection to the above use.