The Viennese string quartet has announced it will end its career at the end of 2025
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The Vienna-based Artis Quartet has announced it will disband ’after a long and prosperous career’ of 45 years at the end of 2025.
‘We are looking forward to play for our audiences until the very final and last bar!,’ the quartet said on social media.
The quartet comprises violinists Peter Schuhmayer and Johannes Meissl, violist Herbert Kefer and cellist Othmar Müller. The quartet formed in 1980 and has not changed personnel since.
The Artis Quartet studied at the University of Music in Vienna and was coached by Hatto Beyerle and Alfred Staar. The ensemble won prizes at competitions in Cambridge, UK (1983) , Evian, France (1984) and Yellow Springs, US (1985) and studied as recipient of the Friedlander Fellowship with the LaSalle Quartet at the College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, from 1984 to 1985.
From 1985, the quartet began its international career performing in numerous venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Suntory Hall, Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall, among others.
The quartet gave premiere performances of works by many composers, including Zemlinsky, Helmut Eder, Erich Urbanner, Thomas Pernes, Gerhard E. Winkler, Thomas Larcher, Gerhard Schedl, Haimo Wisser, Wolfgang Kubizek, Alfred Huber, Harry Pepl, Tania Gabrielle French, and Antonio Pino Vargas.
The ensemble has recorded over 40 CDs Nimbus Records, Sony Classical, CBS/Sony, Orfeo, Accord, Koch/Schwann and Camerata Tokyo. Its recordings have garnered awards such as the Echo Klassik, Indie Award, Grand Prix International du Disque/Academie Charles Cros, The Prix Caecilia, The Diapason D’or, Wiener Flã–Tenuhr, and the Midem Classical Award.
Schuhmayer plays on a 1907 Philipp Keller violin, while Meissl plays on a 1690 A. Guarneri violin. Kefer plays on a 1784 Guadagnini viola and Müller plays on a 1573 A. Amati cello. The three Italian instruments are on loan from the collection of the Austrian National Bank.
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