Ever since 1948 the Rubens House hosted concerts featuring music from the Middle Ages till Johann Sebastian Bach. Famous names from this early period included Safford Cape, Paul Collaer, Gustav Leonhardt, Ralph Kirkpatrick, Kurt Redel, Peter Pears, David Munrow, Concentus Musicus Wien, Deller Consort, René Clemencic and Julian Bream. As a result of the pioneering restoration of some invaluable keyboard instruments from the museum Vleeshuis, a concert tradition started in that museum too from the Sixties on. By virtue of the choice to perform music on period instruments, according to historically informed performance practice, the Early Music Concerts at the Vleeshuis and the Rubens House rapidly became a household word at home and abroad. Some of the most renowned pioneers from the circuit of early music in Flanders - Jos van Immerseel, the Kuijken brothers, René Jacobs and Philippe Hereweghe - gave their very first concerts there.

In 1998 the non-profit association Concerten Oude Muziek was founded with the purpose to develop synergy between the existing series in the Rubens House and the Vleeshuis, subsumed under a clear artistic vision. Later the concerts relocated to the chapel of the Elzenveld. The non-profit association Augustinus was founded on 27 June 2001. This society was established with a view to developing a more coherent, powerful and professional management, optimally fine-tuning the functions and activities in the music center Augustinus. Ever since, Augustinus has not only pursued the lines of force in the Early Music Concerts, but also fortified them. Thus in past seasons concert series have been organized around specific period instruments: violin, transverse flute, keyboard instruments, reeds, cello, and viola da gamba.

On 13 January 2006 AMUZ (Augustinus Music Centre) opened its doors as a contemporary music centre in the restored former St Augustine's church, hosting the Early Music Concerts on a regular basis. Also the concert series of the Flanders Festival-Antwerp, including as its flagship the Renaissance music festival Laus Polyphoniae found its home base there. The non-profit associations Augustinus and Flanders Festival-Antwerp merged on 1 January 2009 into the non-profit association AMUZ (Flanders Festival-Antwerp).