Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, German Record Critics’ Award 2026

The German Record Critics’ Association (Schallplattenkritik e.V.) has just announced the winners for 2026. Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (AKAMUS) has been named honourary prize in the classical music category. The jury recalls that “it all began with a discovery in an attic in the GDR, where it was virtually impossible to obtain historical instruments. The newly formed Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (Berlin Academy of Early Music) was composed of musicians from the East Berlin opera houses and the former Berlin Symphony Orchestra. It gave its first concert in 1982 in the Köpenicker Schlosskirche. It was undoubtedly a real big bang: today’s Berlin baroque music scene is not the only one to benefit from this kick-off given by AKAMUS. For many years, it has been thrilling fans from Tokyo to Buenos Aires, New York and London with its infectious curiosity, which leads it to explore the greatest Baroque masterpieces in unexpected depths and reflect them in rediscovered scores, fresh from the archives. With over a hundred recordings, AKAMUS has set internationally acclaimed milestones”.