Gunar Letzbor studied composition, conducting and violin at Linz, Salzburg and Cologne. His encounters with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Reinhard Goebel ignited a deep passion for period instruments and performance practice, leading him to perform extensively with Musica Antiqua Köln, the Clemencic Consort, La Folia Salzburg, Armonico Tributo Basel and the Wiener Akademie. Gunar Letzbor founded his own ensemble, Ars Antiqua Austria, an instrumental ensemble of varying size dedicated in particular to the exploration of the rich, but neglected, baroque repertoire of his native country and its neighbours. Corollaries of this voyage of re-discovery have been not only the unexpected finds of musical masterpieces otherwise destined to languish in obscurity, but also the articulation of a uniquely central-European instrumental sound and its often deeply spiritual inspiration. As a soloist and with Ars Antiqua Austria, Letzbor has made numerous recordings (including several world premieres), featuring works by Mozart, Bach, Biber, Muffat, Aufschnaiter, Viviani, Schmelzer, Weichlein, Vejvanovsky, Vilsmayr and Conti. Particulary remarkable was his world's premiere recording of Sonate for violin solo by J.J.Vilsmayr and J.P.Westhoff.

Austrian Baroque music takes centre stage in the repertoire of this unusual Baroque ensemble. The music performed at the imperial court in Vienna at this time was initially heavily influenced by the music of Italy, later by that of France; Spanish court ceremonial also had important artistic effects in Vienna. The typical Austrian sound of this era was characterised by the impact of its many royal domains. The political and societal boundaries of Baroque Austria stretched much further than nowadays. Elements of Slavic, Hungarian and Alpine folk music styles had lasting effects on art music, making up its specific sound. But the Austrian sound also reflects the temperament and the character of the people of the time: placed within the melting pot of many diverse cultures, amalgamating Mediterranean zest for life, Slavic melancholy, French formalism, Spanish royal ceremony and the original Alpine elements of the German-speaking region. This mixture of court music and folk music with a dance-like character outlines the typically Austrian sound.
Alongside many concert performances, the early years of the ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria were dedicated to musicological research of Austrian Baroque composers. The abundance of rediscovered works led to several successful premiere recordings: albums featuring the works of R. Weichlein, H.I.F. Biber, F. Conti, G.B. Viviani, G.A.P. Mealli, G. Arnold, A. Caldara, B.A. Aufschnaiter, J.J. Vilsmayr, J.P. Vejvanovsky, J. Schmelzer, G. Muffat, W.L. Radolt, C. Mouthon, J.B. Hochreither, F.J. Aumann and J.S. Bach were met with enthusiastic approbation from the international music press.
Ars Antiqua Austria have been designing their own concert series at the Vienna Konzerthaus since 2002, and at the Brucknerhaus Linz since 2008. The ensemble is leading a cycle of performances arranged over several years entitled “Klang der Kulturen – Kultur des Klanges” (“Sound of the Cultures – Culture of Sound”), consisting of ninety concerts set to be performed in Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, Krakow, Venice, Ljubljana, Mechelen and Lübeck.
Recent performances include concerts at the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Ribeauvillé, Berliner Tage für Alte Musik, Festival Printemps des Arts de Nantes, Mozartfest Würzburg (an opera production), Tage Alter Musik Herne, Festival de Musique de Clisson et de Loire Atlantique, Folles Journées de Nantes and Tokyo, Musée d’Unterlinden Colmar, Printemps Baroque du Sablon, Festival van Vlaanderen, Festival Bach de Lausanne, MAfestival Brugge, Bologna Festival, Vendsyssel Festival, Concerti della Normale di Pisa, Resonanzen Wien, Klangbogen Wien, Monteverdi Festival Cremona, Bayerische Staatsoper and the Salzburger Festspiele. The ensemble has also been welcomed in the USA and in Japan.
The CD recording with mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink (four cantatas by Francesco Conti) was awarded a Diapason d’or only one week after being issued. Gunar Letzbor and his ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria were presented with the Cannes Classical Award 2002 for their recording of the Capricci Armonici by G.B. Viviani.

The lyrical tenor Markus Miesenberger received his education as a singer in Vienna with KS Robert Holl, KS Artur Korn and Sebastian Vittucci as well as in the fields violin and baroque viola with Ernst Kovacic and Michi Gaigg in Salzburg, Linz and Vienna.
Appearances as a concert and lied singer, in operas and as a musician led the artist through Austria, to important European music centres in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, to Israel, to Mexico and to many more. Thus, it was and is beside regular appearances at the Viennese music association and at the Viennese concert hall to guest with numerous festivals (Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes Mexico City, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, MA Festival Brugge, Salzburger Festspiele, Styriarte, Carinthischer Sommer, Schubertiaden Schwarzenberg and Dürnstein, Brucknerfest Linz, Handel Festival Halle, Internationales Musikfest Hamburg, Musica antiqua of the bavarian broadcast Nürnberg, National forum of music Wroclaw, Settimana Musica Sacra di Monreale, Misteria Paschalia Krakow). He sings under the baton of famous conductors like Christian Thielemann, Pierre Andre Valade, Ralf Weikert, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Jeffrey Kahane, Gunar Letzbor, Michi Gaigg and Rubén Dubrovsky with Staatskapelle Dresden, Vienna and Hamburg Symphonic Orchestra, Ars Antiqua Austria, L’Orfeo Baroque Orchestra, Bach Consort Vienna, Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra and Slovac Philharmonic Orchestra. There is also a strong artistic connection in the field of lied to his former teacher Robert Holl and the pianists David Lutz und Sir András Schiff.
On the opera stage Markus Miesenberger is to be experienced above all in roles of the Mozart’s and Haydn’s field, with baroque opera, with opera of the 20th century and with contemporary music. Engagements led him to the Neue Oper Wien, to the Theater an der Wien, to the Landestheater Linz, to the municipal theatre Bolzano and to the Tirol festival. He sang Ferrando in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte at Opernfestspiele Bad Hersfeld, 2018 and 2019 Jack O’Brian in Kurt Weills Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny at Laeiszhalle Hamburg and Balthasar Zorn in Richard Wagners Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with Staatskapelle Dresden under the baton of Christian Thielemann at Osterfestspiele Salzburg, also released on CD, and 2020 at Semperoper Dresden.
In 2011 he won the Franz Joseph Aumann Prize for new discoveries and innovative interpretation of baroque music at the international H.I.F. Biber competition.
Numerous CD productions and radio broadcasts also form a central focus of his artistic career, currently Arias for Silvio Garghetti with Neue Wiener Hofkapelle, Kriegsgeschichten and Liebesabenteuer with music from G.D. Speer with Ars Antiqua Austria (PANCLASSICS) and Psalms for Sacri Concentus 1681 (Challenge Classics).

Like most musicians of his generation, Hubert Hoffmann, a member of Austria's leading early music ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria, pursues a wide-ranging career as a continuo player with numerous ensembles performing on period instruments all over the world. His fascination for the unique blend of lute music for the Habsburg Courts is reflected in his solo projects, in which he aims to shed light upon this undeservedly neglected niche in baroque lute music repertoire. His first solo CD of works by the Bohemian Count Johann Antonin Losy was received to wide critical acclaim. The second recording of music from the lute manuscript Ms.1255 in the monastery library at Klosterneuburg for the ORF Edition of Classical Music, the first ever recording of Wenzel Ludwig Radolt's important 1701 collection of lute concertos Die allertreueste Freindin for Challenge Classics, and the music of the Vienna lutenist Karl Kohaut, also for Challenge Classics, have now been issued.
In 2012, he was appointed curator of a long-term research project in the fields of lute music, lute playing and lute restoration at Kremsmünster Abbey in Upper Austria, producing an edition of the tablatures for lute and mandora, stored in the music library there. As a part of this work he has recently recorded music of Father Ferdinand Fisher, a lute playing member of this Benedictine Monastery, also for Challenge Classic.
From 2013 to 2015 he was active as chairman of the Austrian Lute Society "ÖLG". As artistic consultant, he is also engaged in establishing a new concert series with music from the Goess Manuscripts in the historic Fronmiller Hall at Ebenthal Castle in Carinthia.

Fritz Kirche, born in Carinthia, studied first in his hometown Klagenfurt with Alfred Lösch, later with Ernst Kovacic and Klara Flieder at the University of Music in Vienna. Studies with Wolfram König and Wilhelm Melcher at the University of Music in Stuttgart from where he graduated with distinction followed.
He also had intensive chamber music coaching with members of the Melos Quartet. He has taken part in countless competitions and master classes among others with Franz Samohyl, Zacher Bron, Igor Oistrach, Gerhard Kosten, and Sergei Kratchenko. Fritz Kircher has performed numerous solo concerts in Germany, France and Austria and world premiered Christoph Cech’s violin concerto with the ensemble “die reihe”.

As a harpsichordist and organist Erich Traxler mainly deals with music between around 1600 and 1800. His main focus in the interpretation is on the exploration of the "musical craft" as a basis for music in the Baroque age as well as the immediate linguistic in the music into the 19th century.

His concert career includes performances as soloist on harpsichord and organ as well as chamber musician with various formations (eg L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra, Ars Antiqua Austria, Accentus Austria, Bach Consort Vienna, Venice Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble saitsiing, musica novantica vienna, Ensemble Castor) , Previous tours have taken him to most European countries as well as to the USA, South America, South Africa and Japan. Numerous CD and radio recordings (ORF, Gramola, WDR, Upper Austria organ organ) document his activity.

Erich Traxler received his musical education in Linz and Vienna u. a. Michael Radulescu, August Humer, Wolfgang Glüxam, Gordon Murray, Brett Leighton and Augusta Campagne. A postgraduate degree led him to Basel to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where he got important impulses from musicians such as Andrea Marcon, Wolfgang Zerer, Jean-Claude Zehnder and Jesper Christensen. As organist he won 1st prizes at international competitions for organ (Goldrain / I 2003, Bochum / D 2005).

From 2013 to 2018 Erich Traxler worked as a professor for harpsichord at the Music and Art University of Vienna (MUK). Since 2018 he is at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw). He also taught at masterclasses in Belgrade, Notre Dame University, USA, and Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

Classical cellist born in Steyr, Austria.