A string quartet performed at a church in Vienna on Saturday with instruments made from debris from the March 2011 quake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan.

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, the only tree that survived from a forest of 70,000 pines swept away by the tsunami. The lone pine tree has become a symbol of hope and recovery.

Muneyuki Nakazawa, the 77-year-old maker of the violin, said he hopes that through the performances, the instruments will demonstrate the "value of living while helping one another" and also "pass on the feelings of people (affected by the disaster)."

The performance venue, Minoriten Church, is where a mosaic copy of Leonardo da Vinci's painting "The Last Supper" is displayed.