Artemis Quartet

The Berlin-based Artemis Quartet was founded at the Lí¼beck Musikhochschule in 1989. Walter Levin, the Emerson Quartet, the Julliard Quartet and the Alban Berg Quartet have been and remain important teachers and mentors for the quartet. The ensemble's international stature was established by winning First Prizes at the ARD Competition in 1996 and soon thereafter First Prize at the Premio Borciani. Rather than pitch themselves into the tempting fast track of career success, the members of the Artemis Quartet instead immersed themselves in further study, and in 1998 the ensemble spent a year in residence with the Alban Berg Quartet in Vienna followed by a three month sabbatical at Berlin's Wissenschaftskolleg. Their debut at the Berlin Philharmonie in June of 1999 marked the formal start of their career.

A new phase of the chamber group's life began in July 2007 with Gregor Sigl and Friedemann Weigle becoming members of the string quartet. Their first appearances with their two new members included performances at the Salzburg Festival, the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg, the Rheingau Musik Festival as well as Septembre Musical Montreux-Vevey. Violinist Vineta Sareika joined the group (replacing original first violinist Natalia Prischipenko) during the 2012-13 Season. Since 2004 the quartet's series of concerts at the Berlin Philharmonie has met with high praise from critics and audiences alike. In addition to their busy schedule of concerts at all the most important concert venues in Europe, the US, Japan, South America and Australia, and numerous appearances at international festivals, the Artemis Quartet is also committed to teaching. One example of this vocation is their joint professorship in chamber music at Berlin's Universität der Kí¼nste and their guest lectureship at the "Chapelle Reine Elisabeth" in Brussels.