Koopman Conducts Mozart and Cimarosa

Ton Koopman is one of the most sought-after experts and interpreters in the field of early music and Viennese Classicism and his achievements as a conductor, organist and harpsichordist are regarded as pioneering. Ton Koopman studied organ, harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam and as a student became fascinated with authentic instruments and a performance style based on sound scholarship rather than assumptions. Central to his concerns from the outset has been the performance practice of the 17th and 18th centuries. Numerous recordings, including complete recordings of Bach’s cantatas and organ works, have marked him out as one of the most multifaceted interpreters in his field. Together with the excellent Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, which he conducts mostly from the keyboard, and outstanding soloists, he impresses his audience in some of Mozart’s finest works and in a one-act comic opera by his contemporary, Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801). Recorded in Salzburg in 2002, the interpretations represent state-of-the-art historical performance practice and they offer referential renderings of the famous “Exsultate, jubilate” and Cimarosa’s Il maestro di cappella.