Breakup: Top quartet adds two new players
mainThe Artemis Quartet has chosen violinist Suyoen Kim and cellist Harriet Krijgh to replace two departing members – the American violinist Anthea Kreston and cellist Eckart Runge, the quartet’s last founding member.
Kim, 31, German born, has been concertmaster of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin for the past year.
Krijgh, 27, who is Dutch, will release her debut recording on Deutsche Grammophon later this year.
The remaining members are violinist Vineta Sareika and violist Gregor Sigl. The reconstituted quartet will play its 30th anniversary concerts later this year.
That’s great for Krijgh! She’s a phenomenal cellist!
She is, but one wonders how she would have time on her schedule for this considering her blossoming international solo career.
She had been taking a break from her solo career if I remember right, tendonitis and all. I imagine she’s consciously switching from a purely solo career to a chamber music / String Quartet career.
Good luck to the mostly Artemis Quartet!
What entity exactly is celebrating its 30th anniversary, given that no founding members remain and they just replaced half their membership (obviously not the first time they’ve had lineup changes)?
I guess “Artemis Quartet” is just a corporate brand name/label at this point for whichever group of 4 people happen to be available at any given time, rather than a cohesive quartet with a distinct identity, like say the Alban Berg Quartet or the Smetana Quartet who were together for over 40 years.
And when no members of Szell’s Cleveland Orchestra are left (I actually don’t know if there are any still playing), will it just be some group of random audition winners who have nothing in common with that fabled group but a prestigious corporate brand?
An orchestra of some 100 or so people changing some members over the years is quite a different thing to a much smaller and more intimate quartet routinely replacing members.
But you are correct to say that is is no longer “Szell’s Cleveland Orchestra”, it’s just the Cleveland Orchestra. Szell’s been dead for nearly 50 years…time to move on, man.
Borodin quartet today ran under famous label but same repertoire.
English!
I’m confused. Did the quartet break up, as says in the headline, or are they continuing, and with two new members? English not my native tongue, please explain?
Officially the latter with undertones of the former. Publicly it’s all smiles.
As the old joke goes:
“Established quartet seeks first violinist, violist and cellist.”
right — one good violinist, one bad violinist, one failed violinist, one who hates violin
Ehh- more like the Art-semis Quartet.
Kim plays more in the mold of Frank Peter Zimmermann than Christian Tetzlaff or Antje Weithaas. An interesting choice for the Artemis.