The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (Akamus) was founded in 1982 in Berlin. Since its beginnings, it has become one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras on period instruments and can look back on an unprecedented history of success.
Whether in New York or Tokyo, London or Buenos Aires: Akamus is a regular and much sought-after guest on the most important European and international concert stages. For over 35 years, the orchestra has been playing a subscription series at the Konzerthaus Berlin. But the musical heart of Akamus also beats for music theatre: at the Berlin State Opera, the ensemble has regularly dedicated itself to baroque opera since 1994.
Akamus performs under the changing direction of its three concertmasters Bernhard Forck, Georg Kallweit and Mayumi Hirasaki as well as selected conductors. The ensemble has a particularly close and long-standing artistic partnership with René Jacobs, which has – among others – enabled it to perform for many years as the orchestra in residence at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music. In addition, Emmanuelle Haim, Bernard Labadie, Paul Agnew, Diego Fasolis, Fabio Biondi, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Christophe Rousset and Francesco Corti have recently conducted the orchestra.
Akamus also works regularly with internationally renowned soloists such as Isabelle Faust, Kit Armstrong, Alexander Melnikov and Carlo Vistoli. Together with the dance company Sasha Waltz & Guests, they created the international successful production of Henry Purcell’s ‘Dido & Aeneas’, which has been widely performed with a good one hundred performances from Berlin to Sydney.
The extraordinarily successful cooperation with the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, deserves special mention: The collaboration, which has been equally formative for both ensembles, began more than 30 years ago. Akamus also maintains a close partnership with the Bavarian Radio Chorus and the Audi Jugendchorakademie.
The ensemble’s recordings, which now number around one hundred, have won all the major recording awards, including the Grammy Award, Diapason d’Or, Gramophone Award, Choc de l’année and the Annual Prize of the German Record Critics. In 2006 the orchestra received the Telemann Prize of the City of Magdeburg, and in 2014 the Bach Medal of the City of Leipzig.