Ever since its founding under the baton of Christopher Hogwood in 1973, the Academy of Ancient Music has been a regular on concert stages across the world and in the recording studio. The ensemble has received five Gramophone Classical Music Awards, including a recording of Handel's Concerto Grossi, Op 3 conducted by Richard Egarr (Harmonia Mundi) and Rinaldo with Christopher Hogwood (Decca L'Oiseau-Lyre), both of which you enjoy below this story via Apple Music.

In this special celebratory film, soprano Dame Emma Kirkby, the AAM's music director Laurence Cummings, and chief executive John McMunn share their memories of the orchestra. 

To mark the anniversary the AAM are launching their 2023/2024 season with a performance of Handel’s Music at the Royal Fireworks at the Barbican on October 18, with a new book, Refiner’s Fire, which explores the AAM’s rich past, written by Gramophone writer Richard Bratby, and with the release of the first complete recording of all the Mozart piano concertos – a series 30 years in the making!