The Philharmonic Wind Quintet of Berlin was founded in 1988, in the era of Herbert von Karajan. The ensemble has constantly received musical inspiration and stimulation from the Berlin Philharmoniker’s exceptionally productive and influential musical partnerships, with Karajan and his successors as principal conductor, Claudio Abbado and Sir Simon Rattle. As members of the orchestra, they have naturally also benefited from collaboration with the other great conductors of this period, from Leonard Bernstein, Carlos Kleiber and Sir John Barbirolli, by way of Günter Wand, Carlo Maria Giulini, Bernard Haitink and Riccardo Muti, to James Levine and Daniel Barenboim, to mention only a few.