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About
Concentus Musicus Wien (CMW) is an Austrian baroque music ensemble based in Vienna. The CMW is recognized as a progenitor of the period-instrument performance movement.
The Ensemble Concentus Musicus was founded in 1953 by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and some like-minded people with the aim of gaining a new understanding of early music through the most vivid and scientifically based interpretation possible. The members of the Concentus Musicus play on historical instruments. In 1957 the ensemble performed for the first time in Vienna and at the Eggenberg Palace Concerts in Graz. As a result, it organized concert series for years in the Schwarzenberg Palace. The extensive repertoire of early music developed in the process also formed the basis for concert tours and recordings.
Since then, many successful tours have taken the ensemble to almost all European countries, the USA to Japan and Australia. The ensemble achieved worldwide recognition through its numerous recordings - especially music from the period 1400 - around 1800 - many of which were awarded international prizes. Of particular note are the recordings of the entire cantata works by Johann Sebastian Bach, the oratorios by Bach and Handel, as well as operas, symphonies and sacred works by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
With its musical pioneering work, the ensemble has significantly shaped today's understanding of early music. Since Nikolaus Harnoncourt's resignation and death, Stefan Gottfried has headed the ensemble together with Erich Höbarth and Andrea Bischof. Stefan Gottfried relies on baroque works as well as on the further development and development of the ensemble in the direction of late classical and romantic works. In the Theater an der Wien the Concentus Musicus was last heard in Purcell's King Arthur .