Bruno Weil is considered as one of the world's leading interpreter of Haydn symphonies. Haydn is represented in many of his 22 recordings released on the Sony Classical label. His recording with the Canadian ensemble Tafelmusik of the "Paris" Symphonies by Haydn won the MIDEM Cannes Classical award in 1996. Weil and Tafelmusik have also been awarded the German Echo Klassik Award as Orchestra of the Year in 1996 for their recording of Haydn's Missa Sancti Bernardi (Heiligmesse), and in 1997 Weil himself won the Echo Klassik Award as Conductor of the Year. Cappella Coloniensis, founded in 1954, was the first orchestra in the world to make music according to historical performance practices. Amongst the important conductors that have stood in front of the orchestra are Ferdinand Leitner, William Christie and John Eliot Gardiner, to name only a few, and from 1997 increasingly often Bruno Weil. In 2003 the musicians of Cappella Coloniensis chose Weil as their artistic director.