Artemis Quartet


The Artemis Quartet, named after the Greek goddess of hunting and the wilderness, is a German string quartet founded in 1989 in Lübeck and now Berlin-based. They are noted for their performances of Beethoven string quartets.

History

The recordings of the ensemble were awarded several important prizes, recently including the ECHO Klassik 2006 for their recording of the Beethoven Quartets Op. 95 and 59/1. The quartet was awarded the German Critics' Prize 2001, and the Würth Prize of Jeunesses Musicales Germany 2007. In 2015 the quartet was again awarded the ECHO Klassik in the category of chamber music recording of the year.
The first members of the Artemis Quartet were professors of chamber music at the Berlin University of the Arts. For personal and health reasons Wilken Ranck left the quartet in 1994 and Volker Jacobsen and Heime Müller left at the end of the 2006/07 season. Natalia Prishepenko resigned from the quartet after 18 years of membership of the ensemble in 2012. Newer members were Gregor Sigl, the violist Friedemann Weigle and the Latvian violinist Vineta Sareika.

Discography

The Artemis Quartet has had an exclusive recording contract with Virgin Classics/EMI since 2005. Their discography includes