Red Bull Music Academy Announces Details For 20th Anniversary at Funkhaus Berlin

– Berlin’s Funkhaus
Funkhaus is set to host Red Bull Music Academy’s 20th anniversary edition.

After traveling to cities across the globe during the past two decades, Red Bull Music Academy is headed back to Berlin, its debut host city, to celebrate its 20th anniversary edition. 

The five-week music workshop and lecture series is scheduled Sept. 8 to Oct. 12 with the cultural center and historic recording studio complex Funkhaus Berlin serving as home base for the Academy. Plus, Red Bull Music will present concerts, club nights and public talks at music and cultural venues throughout the city.

Funkhaus (aka “Broadcast House”) will welcome 61 up-and-coming musicians from around the world who will collaborate with pioneering artists from a variety of styles, methodologies and cultures.

The recording studio complex – one of the largest in the world – was built by the German Democratic Republic to house its state radio operations in 1956 and was designed by Bauhaus-trained architect Franz Ehrlich. Funkhaus, which spans three blocks and had as many as 3,500 people working there in the ‘70s, is undergoing a gradual restoration process. 

Red Bull Music Academy is setting up shop during the 20th anniversary celebration in Funkhaus’ Block B, using the rooms that make up the H1 studio, along with two recording rooms that flank one of the chamber music halls, as production studios. The Academy will help with the restoration project by rewiring and refurbishing the studios, including reinstating one of the original reverb chambers. The Academy is also using a large orchestral recording hall as a lecture hall and a chamber music hall as a session room. 

The team of renowned musicians and producers who will be overseeing the Academy participants’ time in the studio includes producer Just Blaze, Underground Resistance founding member “Mad” Mike Banks, producer/DJ Marco Passarani, multi-instrumentalist Angel Deradoorian, Hessle Audio co-founder Pearson Sound, indie experimentalist Lucrecia Dalt, composer/producer Dorian Concept, composer/DJ/electronic musician Mathew Jonson; vocalist/producer Ango; and avant-pop producer Kate NV. Additional team members will be announced. 

Previous Red Bull Music Academy host cities have included Dublin, London, Melbourne, Toronto, Barcelona, New York City, Tokyo, Paris and Montreal. 

The long list of acclaimed artists who have participated in past editions of RBMA include Bjork, Giorgio Moroder, Brian Eno, George Clinton, Pharaoh Sanders, Nile Rodgers, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Ryuchi Sakamoto, Erykah Badu, Q-Tip, D’Angelo and many more.