Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin was founded in 1982 by musicians from the former East Berlin specialising in early music. Set apart from the state sponsored music institutions of the former GDR, the ensemble's efforts at achieving authentic performances were rather timid at first. However, since 1984, the ensemble has had its own concert series and by 1986 they were already guests at the Tage für Alte Musik in Herne, West Germany. Their first recording was released in 1987, appearing simultaneously on the Eterna label in the East and on the Capprccio label in the West. Today the recordings of the Akademie are regularly awarded prizes, including the Deutschen Schallplattenpreis, Diapason d'Or, the Cannes Classical Award, the British Grammophone Award and the Dutch Edison Award. The Akdemie now regularly appears as guests in Vienna, Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, London and Brussels. International tours have also taken the ensemble to Asia, and South America. Under the direction of René Jacobs the orchestra is a regular guest at the Berliner Staatsoper Unter den Linden as well as the Innsbrucker Festwochen. The debut of the Akademie in the London Wigmore Hall in December 1999 with Cecilia Bartoli led to a long-standing partnership between the orchestra and the mezzo-soprano. This resulted in the Grammy Award winning recording of opera arias by Christoph Willibald Gluck. In May 2005 the Akademie made its US debut, playing in Carnegie Hall and in the major concert venues in Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and Washington, D.C. The Akademie is currently supported by donations through Friends of Akamus: www.akamusfreunde.de.