A giant of classical music in the 20th century, Austrian composer and conductor
Nikolaus Harnoncourt rediscovered some of the great historical compositions and
became recognised as a charismatic and highly influential maestro. Born into a
wealthy family of Austrian aristocrats, he studied cello at the Vienna Music
Academy and played in the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Herbert Von Karajan,
but his interest in the history of classical music led him to form the ensemble
Concentus Musicus Wien to perform one of the first operas - Monteverdi's
'L'Ofero'. It started a mission to re-...