Best Historically Informed
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Charles Mackerras was an Australian conductor and oboist, born in 1925 and active principally in Britain until his death in 2010. He became closely associated with the operas of Leoš Janáček, preparing and performing editions that helped expand the composer's international reputation. Mackerras also...
Giovanni Antonini is an Italian conductor and performer on the recorder and Baroque transverse flute. He co-founded the Milan-based period-instrument ensemble Il Giardino Armonico in 1985 and became closely associated with historically informed performances of Baroque and Classical repertory. He has...
Christophe Rousset is a French harpsichordist and conductor associated with historically informed performance. He founded the period instrument ensemble Les Talens Lyriques in 1991 and has concentrated much of his work on French, Italian, and German music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries....
Nikolaus Harnoncourt was an Austrian conductor and cellist who played a central role in the early music movement and historically informed performance. In 1953, he founded the Concentus Musicus Wien, an ensemble dedicated to playing period instruments to authentically recreate the sounds of Baroque,...
Harry Christophers is a British conductor born in 1953 and the founder of The Sixteen, a choir and period-instrument orchestra established in 1979. Through concerts and recordings, he has concentrated on Renaissance polyphony, Baroque sacred music, and historically informed performance. His repertoi...
Vaclav Luks is a Czech conductor, harpsichordist, and specialist in historically informed performance. He founded the Prague-based orchestra and choir Collegium 1704 in 2005, developing it from an earlier chamber ensemble associated with his studies. His work concentrates on Baroque and Classical re...
John Eliot Gardiner (born 1943) is an English conductor associated with historically informed performance of Baroque, Classical, and Romantic repertoire. He founded the Monteverdi Choir in 1964 while still a student at King's College, Cambridge, and later established the English Baroque Soloists in...
Pablo Heras-Casado is a Spanish conductor whose repertoire extends from Renaissance and Baroque music to major orchestral works and contemporary compositions. He has worked with both period-instrument ensembles and modern symphony orchestras, including a long association with the Freiburger Barockor...
Frans Brüggen was a Dutch conductor and virtuoso recorder player recognized as a major figure in the historical performance practice movement. He gained international fame in the 1960s for his exceptional technique and expressive interpretations on the recorder, elevating the instrument's status in...
Marc Minkowski is a French conductor who began his musical career as a bassoonist before shifting to orchestral direction. In 1982, he founded the period instrument ensemble Les Musiciens du Louvre, which specializes in historically informed performances. He is recognized for his extensive work with...
Sir Roger Norrington is a British conductor recognized for his significant influence on the historically informed performance movement. In 1978, he founded the London Classical Players, an ensemble celebrated for applying historical performance practices, such as minimal use of vibrato, to repertoir...
Estonian conductor and violinist Andres Mustonen founded the early music ensemble Hortus Musicus in Tallinn in 1972, pioneering historically informed performance in Soviet Estonia.
