Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Berlin, 1929; Austria, 2016) has been one of the pioneers of the musical interpretation with historical criteria. Austrian nationality and son of an aristocratic family, he studied music in Vienna. 1952 he joined the Vienna Symphony Orchestra as a cellist. A year later founded the Concentus Musicus Wien. The recovery of the operas of Monteverdi, the innovative productions of Mozart or the first recording of the complete cycle of Bach's cantatas (in collaboration with Gustav Leonhardt) are important milestones in his career. Its activity focused increasingly on conducting, in a constant quest to discover new perspectives of the great symphonic repertoire.