The Artemis Quartett was founded by four students at the Musikhochschule in Lübeck in 1989; they are first violinist Natalia Prischepenko, second violinist Heime Müller, violist Volker Jacobsen, and cellist Eckart Runge. In Lübeck they studied with LaSalle Quartet alumnus Walter Levin and took master classes with the Alban Berg Quartet, an apprenticeship that began in 1994 and went on for some time. By the time of its seventh season, the Artemis Quartett had already played most of the major European capitals and had conducted its first tour of the United States, and in 1997 it made its first recordings for Ars Musici, the label run by the Freiburger Musikforum; since 2001 the group has recorded exclusively for Virgin Classics. A major personnel change occured in 2007 when Gregor Sigl and Friedemann Weigle joined as second violinist and violist, respectively, and the two were initiated by recording the music of Schubert with Truls Mørk. The Artemis Quartett is the first string quartet to ever be awarded the prestigious prize for music given by the Federation of German Critics, and is noted for its performances of Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Brahms, and above all, Beethoven.