ARTEMIS QUARTET

Natalia Prishepenko (violine), Gregor Sigl (violine),
Friedemann Weigle (viola), Eckart Runge (violoncello)

High praise comes from a discriminating voice. In a critic written about the string quartet, the daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has stated that there are many good string quartets performing. However, among the very good quartets playing internationally, the "Artemis ensemble is the best." The reason: "Ranging from Beethoven to Ligeti, their performances overflow with fullness of sound, delineated structure and unparalleled drama."

The Berlin-based Artemis Quartet was founded at the Lübeck 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. Since 1994 the four players have performed as a professional ensemble, quickly gaining a reputation as one of the leading ensembles of their generation. 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 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.

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 Künste and their guest lectureship at the "Chapelle Reine Elisabeth" in Brussels.

From the outset, the Artemis Quartet has highly valued sharing the concert podium with leading concert artists. Most recently they were on a concert tour with Juliane Banse, Truls Mørk and Leif Ove Andsnes. Intensive study of contemporary music is also an important focus within the quartet's repertoire. Composers such as Mauricio Sotelo (2004), Jörg Widmann (2006), and Thomas Larcher (in a work to be premiered in 2008) have composed works for the Artemis Quartet.

The Artemis Quartet appeared in a motion picture early in its career, playing in an EMI production in 1996 as guests of the Alban Berg Quartet in Bruno Monsaingeon's feature-length documentary named after Schubert's quartet of the same name - Death and the Maiden. Five years later the Artemis Quartet once again performed in another film by the renowned director. Monsaingeon's 2001 documentary on Beethoven's Grosse Fuge op.133 - Strings Attached - is at the same time an impressive portrait of the Artemis Quartet.

In recognition of the ensemble's contribution to the interpretation of Beethoven's music, the Verein des Beethoven-Hauses Bonn conferred honorary membership to the Artemis Quartet in 2003. In 2004 the quartet won the 23rd "Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana" in Siena, Italy.

In 2005 the Artemis Quartet signed an exclusive recording contract with Virgin Classics/EMI which will ultimately result in at least ten recordings over a period five years. Most recently a CD featuring string quartets by Janácek and Dvorák was released, to be followed in September 2007 with a new recording of Brahms and Schumann piano quintets with Leif Ove Andsnes. The first recording with the newest members of the ensemble will be a CD of works by Schubert including the Quintet for Two Cellos with Truls Mørk. Recordings by the Artemis Quartet previously on the Ars Musici label and now on Virgin Classics/EMI have been awarded the German Record Critics' Award (Deutscher Schallplattenpreis) and Diapason d'Or. In October of 2006 the Artemis Quartet's recording of the String Quartets, op. 95 & 59/1, was awarded Germany's definitive Echo Klassik award for "Chamber Music Recording of the Year."

THE ARTEMIS QUARTET
INDIVIDUAL BIOGRAPHIES

NATASCHA PRISCHEPENKO (violine)

Natascha was born in 1973, in Meschduretschesnk in Russia. Her mother was a violin teacher and her father a balalaika virtuoso. From the age of seven Natalia was taught by her mother. She then became a pupil of Professor Zachar Bron in the Conservatoire in Novosibirsk, and there in 1988 she won first prize in the Competition of the Soviet Union. When Bron was appointed later in 1988 to a professorship in the Musikhochschule in Lübeck, Natalia went to Germany, too.

In 1990 she won the international Paganini Competition in Genoa. In 1992 she won prizes at the Tokyo Violin Competition , and in 1993 at the 'Reine Elisabeth' competition in Brussels; her success led to solo engagements in Europe and in Japan, and to her playing under the baton of conductors such as Dmitri Fedossejew and of David Shallon.

She has been invited to play at the Berlin Festival and at festivals in Judenburg, Divonne, and Risör, and has performed with David Geringas, Eduard Brunner, Kim Kashkashian and Natalia Gutman.

GREGOR SIGL (violine)

Gregor Sigl was born in Burghausen (Upper Bavaria) in 1976. He received early instruction in music from his mother starting at the age of five and continued his music education at the Sing- und Musikschule in Augsburg. When only ten years old, he accepted an invitation to study violin with Professor Jürgen Geise at the renowned Mozarteum in Salzburg; at the same time he enrolled as a pupil at the Gymnasium Salzburg where core curriculum focused on the humanities. In the following years, Gregor Sigl won both First and Second Prize at Germany's nationwide Jugend musiziert music competition, receiving commendation in the violin solo and string quartet categories.

In 1991 he was awarded the Christa Richter Steiner Prize by the "Verein der Freunde der Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mozarteum" in recognition of his exceptional scholastic achievement. During the same year he was awarded a guest scholarship to study with American violinist Lynn Blakeslee at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. In 1993 Gregor Sigl met Philippe Hirshhorn and was accepted in the violinist's international master class at Utrecht Conservatory. After Professor Hirshhorn's death in November 1996, Sigl continued his studies in the Netherlands with Viktor Liberman, Herman Krebbers and Alexander Kerr. He also attended the master classes of Zakhar Bron, Yfrah Neaman, Ruggiero Ricci and Charles André Linale.

As a violinist in the Salzburg Hyperion Ensemble, Gregor Sigl has performed in chamber music recitals in many European countries and in the United States. Since 1997, Gregor Sigl has been a regular guest concert master for such well-known orchestras as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Ensemble CIS, Camerata Salzburg, Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Gregor Sigl has been a member of the Artemis Quartet since 2007.

FRIEDEMANN WEIGLE (viola)

Friedemann Weigle was born in Berlin into a family of church musicians, and received his first violin lessons at the age of six. He studied with Alfred Lipka at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin, where as a student he founded the Petersen Quartet with the original 1st violinist, Ulrike Petersen.

Even before completing his studies he became the principal violist of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra in 1984, a position he left after four years because of his increasing solo activities and the international success of the Petersen Quartet. Since that time he has taught viola and chamber music at the "Hanns Eisler" Hochschule, and is internationally sought-after for masterclasses and courses. He is a frequent guest with other chamber ensembles, and sits regularly on the jury of the national music competition "Jugend musiziert".

In addition to his work as a chamber musician and teacher, Friedemann Weigle devotes himself to the creation of unconventional concert programmes combining music with other art forms such as literature, photography, and drama, often with the involvement of his students. In these concerts he also aims to enhance the viola's status as a solo instrument by presenting it in different musical styles, such as Jazz, Blues, and Tango.

Since 2007 Friedemann Weigle is a member of the Artemis Quartett.

ECKART RUNGE (violincello)

Eckart Runge studied with Edmond Baert at the Brussels Conservatory as well as with David Geringas at the Musikhochschule Lübeck. Having won several international competitions (Premio Stradivari Cremona 1991, Deutscher Musikwettbewerb Bonn 1994 and “Concours International de Musique Genève“ 1995), he started performing as a soloist at an early stage.

In addition to his international career as a member of the Artemis Quartet, “the polyglot diplomat’s son is busy promoting and toiling for musical ‘border crossings’ in Tango, Jazz und film music“ (Der Spiegel) and has managed to win a continuously growing audience for sophisticated chamber music with his "CelloProject" , founded in 1998. Together with pianist Jacques Ammon he presents various programmes dedicated to Tango, film and Jazz. Further productions of the project are "Concert Visuel", with two mimes from the Compagnie Marcel Marceau, and "Saite an Saite - Kreativität und Dialog im Unternehmen Leben”. The combination of artistic earnest and communicative presentation is received enthusiastically by audiences and critics alike. The concerts are distinguished not only by innovative programming, but also by the unconventional way in which the Berlin-based performer takes his audience through the evening, be it in German, English, French or Spanish.

Eckart Runge’s self-definition as artist is closely entwined with his social and educational commitment. Thus he lends his support, both through regular benefit performances and directly on location, to organisations such as “Jeunesses Musicales Deutschland“, “Yehudi Menuhin- Life Music Now“ as well as to youth orchestra projects in South America.

Together with his colleagues from the Artemis Quartet Eckart teaches as guest professor at the Universität der Künste in Berlin and the Chapelle Reine Elisabeth in Brussels.

For more information about the Artemis Quartet,
please visit their web site at www.artemisquartet.com.