Concentus Musicus Wien

Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Alice Harnoncourt co-founded the CMW in 1953, along with several musicians from the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. The CMW did research and rehearsal for 4 years before their first official concert; and Lucerne, as well as the styriarte festival in Graz which Harnoncourt founded. The CMW first toured North America in 1966, including its Boston debut for the Peabody Mason Concert series. Subsequent American tours followed in 1968 and in 1971. Nikolaus Harnoncourt retired from the CMW and from conducting in general in December 2015. In parallel with her husband's retirement, Alice Harnoncourt retired from the CMW. In succession to Alice Harnoncourt, the current leader of the ensemble (concertmaster) is Erich Höbarth. In succession to Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the CMW's current artistic leader is the harpsichordist . The ensemble's current manager is Maximilian Harnoncourt, grandson of Nikolaus and Alice Harnoncourt. ==Recordings==

The CMW made their first recording in 1962, of music for viols by Henry Purcell, for the Telefunken label. In addition to their long series of recordings for Telefunken and Teldec, the CMW has made commercial recordings for other labels such as Deutsche Harmonia Mundi and Sony Classical. The CMW's final commercial recordings with Nikolaus Harnoncourt were two recordings of music of Ludwig van Beethoven, the 4th and 5th Symphonies and the Missa solemnis, the latter being Harnoncourt's final recording. ==Honors and awards==

• 1990 and 1991, German Record Critics' Prize – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera Lucio Silla and George Frideric Handel's oratorio Theodora, respectively • 1990, Gramophone Award for Special Achievement – Recording of the complete Bach cantatas • 1995, Cannes Classical Award – J.S. Bach's St John Passion (BWV 245) • 1996–1997, top awards from three different French music publications – recordings of Mozart's Il re pastore, Antonio Vivaldi concertos, and J.S. Bach motets ==References==