Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin

Grammy-winning, globetrotting chamber orchestra Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (Academy for Ancient Music Berlin) came from behind the Iron Curtain in East Berlin in 1982, intrigued by the increase in interest in period-accurate instrumentation that was percolating elsewhere in the classical world. The group was able to break out globally after the reunification of Germany in 1990, and embarked on multiple decades of prominence in the period-instrument world, highlighted by collaborations with figures like Belgian conductor René Jacobs and Italian mezzo-soprano Cecila Bartoli. The unit was nominated for a Grammy in 1999 in the Best Small Ensemble Performance category for its recording of Scarlatti: Il Primo Omicidio, and was the backing orchestra for Bartoli’s Grammy-winning Dreams & Fables - Gluck Italian Arias in 2001. They have also delved into the dance world and performed alongside several prominent modern dance troupes, and have headlined opera houses and festivals around the world, including the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music and at Carnegie Hall in New York.