diff --git a/beetsplug/_utils/musicbrainz.py b/beetsplug/_utils/musicbrainz.py
index 2fc821df9..bb278b954 100644
--- a/beetsplug/_utils/musicbrainz.py
+++ b/beetsplug/_utils/musicbrainz.py
@@ -11,9 +11,10 @@ logic throughout the codebase.
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import operator
+import re
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from functools import cached_property, singledispatchmethod, wraps
-from itertools import groupby
+from itertools import groupby, starmap
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Literal, ParamSpec, TypedDict, TypeVar
 
 from requests_ratelimiter import LimiterMixin
@@ -33,6 +34,9 @@ if TYPE_CHECKING:
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
+LUCENE_SPECIAL_CHAR_PAT = re.compile(r'([-+&|!(){}[\]^"~*?:\\/])')
+
+
 class LimiterTimeoutSession(LimiterMixin, TimeoutAndRetrySession):
     """HTTP session that enforces rate limits."""
 
@@ -181,6 +185,21 @@ class MusicBrainzAPI(RequestHandler):
     def _browse(self, entity: Entity, **kwargs) -> list[JSONDict]:
         return self._get_resource(entity, **kwargs).get(f"{entity}s", [])
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def format_search_term(field: str, term: str) -> str:
+        """Format a search term for the MusicBrainz API.
+
+        See https://lucene.apache.org/core/4_3_0/queryparser/org/apache/lucene/queryparser/classic/package-summary.html
+        """
+        if not (term := term.lower().strip()):
+            return ""
+
+        term = LUCENE_SPECIAL_CHAR_PAT.sub(r"\\\1", term)
+        if field:
+            term = f"{field}:({term})"
+
+        return term
+
     def search(
         self,
         entity: Entity,
@@ -195,10 +214,8 @@ class MusicBrainzAPI(RequestHandler):
           - 'value' is empty, in which case the filter is ignored
         * Values are lowercased and stripped of whitespace.
         """
-        query = " AND ".join(
-            ":".join(filter(None, (k, f'"{_v}"')))
-            for k, v in filters.items()
-            if (_v := v.lower().strip())
+        query = " ".join(
+            filter(None, starmap(self.format_search_term, filters.items()))
         )
         log.debug("Searching for MusicBrainz {}s with: {!r}", entity, query)
         kwargs["query"] = query
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 25a0c1365..bd2243d67 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ New features:
 
 Bug fixes:
 
+- :doc:`plugins/musicbrainz`: Fix search terms escaping. :bug:`6347`
+
 For packagers:
 
 Other changes:
diff --git a/test/plugins/utils/test_musicbrainz.py b/test/plugins/utils/test_musicbrainz.py
index 291f50eb5..c7363f516 100644
--- a/test/plugins/utils/test_musicbrainz.py
+++ b/test/plugins/utils/test_musicbrainz.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import pytest
+
 from beetsplug._utils.musicbrainz import MusicBrainzAPI
 
 
@@ -80,3 +82,15 @@ def test_group_relations():
             },
         ],
     }
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "field, term, expected",
+    [
+        ("artist", '  AC/DC + "[Live]"  ', r"artist:(ac\/dc \+ \"\[live\]\")"),
+        ("", "Foo:Bar", r"foo\:bar"),
+        ("artist", "   ", ""),
+    ],
+)
+def test_format_search_term(field, term, expected):
+    assert MusicBrainzAPI.format_search_term(field, term) == expected