The RIAS Kammerchor is a professional chamber choir based in Berlin , Germany , and supported by the Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH Berlin ("Berlin Radio Orchestra and Choirs"), a limited-liability company owned by the public broadcasters Deutschlandradio (40%) and RBB (5%), the German Federal Republic (35%), and the State of Berlin (20%). Originally known as the Rundfunkchor des RIAS , the choir was founded in 1948 by the US-run German-language radio station Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor ("Broadcasting in the American Sector") – hence its name, which it has retained even though RIAS itself was wound up in 1993, following German reunification .