Harnoncourt was a
cellist with the
Vienna Symphony from 1952 to 1969. In 1953, he founded the period-instrument ensemble
Concentus Musicus Wien with his wife,
Alice Hoffelner, whom he married during the year. The Concentus Musicus Wien was dedicated to performances on
period instruments. He played the
viola da gamba at this time, as well as the cello. For the
Telefunken (later
Teldec) label, Harnoncourt recorded Baroque repertoire, beginning with the viol music of
Henry Purcell, and extending to include works like Bach's
The Musical Offering, Monteverdi's ''
L'incoronazione di Poppea'', and Rameau's
Castor et Pollux. One of his final recordings with the Concentus Musicus Wien was of Beethoven's
Symphonies Nos. 4 and
5. One reason that Harnoncourt left the Vienna Symphony was to become a conductor. He made a conducting debut at
La Scala,
Milan, in 1972/ 73 season, leading a production of Monteverdi's ''
Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria'' at La Piccola Scala. In 1971, Harnoncourt established a joint project with conductor
Gustav Leonhardt to record all of
J.S. Bach's cantatas. The
Teldec Bach cantata project was eventually completed in 1990 and was the only cantata cycle to use an all-male choir and soloist roster, with the exception of cantatas nos.
51 and
199, which were intended for a female soprano voice. He also made the first recordings in historically informed performance of Bach's
Mass in B minor (1968) and
St Matthew Passion (1970). In 2001, an acclaimed and
Grammy Award winning
recording of the St Matthew Passion with the
Arnold Schoenberg Choir was released, which included the entire score of the piece in Bach's own hand on a
CD-ROM. This was his third recording of the work. Harnoncourt later performed with many orchestras performing on modern instruments, but retaining considerations for historical authenticity in terms of
tempi and
dynamics, among other issues. He also expanded his repertoire, continuing to play the
baroque works, but also championing the
Viennese operetta repertoire. He made a benchmark recording of
Beethoven's symphonies with the
Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE), and recorded Beethoven's
piano concertos with
Pierre-Laurent Aimard and the COE. Harnoncourt was a guest conductor of the
Vienna Philharmonic and made several recordings with the orchestra. Between 1987 and 1991, he conducted four new productions of Mozart operas at the
Vienna State Opera (1987–91:
Idomeneo; 1988–90:
Die Zauberflöte; 1989:
Die Entführung aus dem Serail; 1989–91:
Così fan tutte). He directed the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Day concerts in 2001 and 2003. In 1992, Harnoncourt debuted at the
Salzburg Festival conducting a concert with the
Chamber Orchestra of Europe. In the following years, he led several concerts with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Concentus Musicus. Harnoncourt also served as the conductor for major opera productions of the Festival: ''L'incoronazione di Poppea'' (1993), Mozart's
Le nozze di Figaro (1995 and 2006),
Don Giovanni (2002, marking also
Anna Netrebko's international breakthrough as Donna Anna, and 2003) and
La clemenza di Tito (2003 and 2006), and Purcell's
King Arthur (2004). In 2012, Harnoncourt conducted a new production of
Die Zauberflöte staged by
Jens-Daniel Herzog. Harnoncourt made his guest-conducting debut with the
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam in 1975. He continued as a guest conductor with the orchestra, including in several opera productions and recordings. In October 2000, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (KCO) named him their
Honorair gastdirigent (Honorary Guest Conductor). His final appearance with the KCO was in October 2013, leading Bruckner's
Symphony No. 5. Other recordings outside of the baroque and classical era repertoire included his 2002 recording of Bruckner's
Symphony No. 9 with the Vienna Philharmonic. An accompanying second CD contained a lecture by Harnoncourt about the symphony with musical examples, including the rarely heard fragments from the unfinished finale. In 2009, Harnoncourt recorded Gershwin's
Porgy and Bess, taken from live performances at Graz. He was a conductor for the
Rudolf Buchbinder's recording of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano concertos No. 23 & 25. On 5 December 2015, one day before his 86th birthday, Harnoncourt announced his retirement via his website. "My bodily strength requires me to cancel my future plans," he wrote in a hand-written letter inserted into the program on his 86th birthday of a concert by the Concentus Musicus Wien.
Styriarte Harnoncourt was the focus of the annual festival of classical music
Styriarte, founded in 1985 to tie him closer to his hometown,
Graz. He programmed the festival for 31 years. Events have been held at different venues in Graz and in the surrounding region. == Personal life ==