Gavriel Lipkind (born 5 August 1977 in Tel-Aviv), is an Israeli cellist
Biography
Born to a family of Jewish immigrants from Russia, Lipkind enjoyed a stellar rise to fame at an early age and appeared with orchestras such as the Israel Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic and the Baltimore Symphony, working alongside Zubin Mehta, Philippe Entremont, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Yehudi Menuhin, Pinchas Zukerman, Yuri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer, and many others well known musicians.
He has graduated from three major academies on three continents: Tel Aviv S. Rubin Academy, Frankfurter Hochschule für Musik, and the New England Conservatory (Boston).
Aged 23, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote of him: "A new star ascends the cello sky...The young Israeli cellist is one of the major musicians to have entered the music scene in recent years...". At this stage, despite his success as a young musician, Lipkind decided to take a sabbatical to focus wholly on some aspects of his musicianship - in his own words: "...to take time to work reflectively on new repertoire away from the cocnert stage, liaise with composers, and make recordings of the highest quality".
At this pivotal point in his development, while living in relative isolation at the Frankfurt Taunus area in Germany Lipkind produced two contrasting recordings: Miniatures and Folklore, featuring his own arrangements and Single Voice Polyphony (Volume I), showcasing Johann Sebastian Bach's Suites for Violoncello solo.
These two recordings have been performed and produced by Gavriel Lipkind and aim to show him as a conceptual musician and an expressive virtuoso. Working together with the designer Carolyn Steinbeck • Berlin and the sound ingeneer Christoph Classen, Lipkind's own compositional voice, coupled with a deep knowledge of the cello and a taste for graphical representation of his ideas is are well documented (Van Walsum Management, London - CV text) - These recordings are presented as part of larger cooperative undertaking between Lipkind's own Label Lipkind Productions and the Hamburg-based company Edel.
Since his come-back on stage in 2005, Lipkind's repertoire now encompasses as well as all the major works for cello, also numerous rarities, newly commissioned works and his own arrangements and transcriptions.
In April 2007, another project of Lipkind Productions as been accomplished. Namely, a stand alone composition named The Solitude Cycle. This composition is a result of two years of working together with eight selected young composers from around the world. Gavriel Lipkind has been living together with the composers at the Solitude Castle (Akademie Schloss Solitude) near Stuttgart with the goal to compose together a whole concert for cello and electronics.
Instrument
Gavriel Lipkind plays an Aloysius Michael Garani cello (Bologna, 1702)
Competitions (partial list)
- 1993 - Aldo Parisot Cello Competition – 1. Prize
- 1993 - Paul Ben-Haim Competition of Israeli Music – 1. Prize
- 1994 - A&M Clairmont Cello Competition – 1. Prize
- 1994 - 5th Rostropovich International Cello Competition in Paris - ‘most promising cellist’ Prize.
- 1995 - Awarded status of an Excellent Musician of the Israeli Army. (NAGAN MITZTAYEN)
- 1996 - Francois Shapira Strings Competition – 1. Prize
- 1997 - 2nd Leonard Rose International Cello Competition in Washington D.C. - Top prize
- 1997 - Israeli Radio ‘Young Artists’ Strings Competition – 1. Prize
- 1998 - ‘Premio V.Gui’ Int. Chamber Music Competition – 3. Prize
- 1998 - ‘Trio di Triest’ Int. Chamber Music Competition – 3. Prize
- 1998 - ARD International Music Competition in München – 4. Prize and special prize
- 1998 - Villecroze Academy of Music Prize and residence award
- 2000 - 1st International Pablo Casals Cello Competition in Kronberg i.T. – 3. Prize
- 2001 - ‘Violoncello Competition des Freundkreis’, Karlsruhe – 1. Prize
- 2002 - Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann, Berlin – Prize for the best interpretation of the Mozart Flute Concerto in D-Major. Prize for the best world premiere of Aribert Reimann Solo II. The prizes were given by Daniel Barenboim, Otto Schily and Aribert Reimann.
Current Releases
- 2006: Johann Sebastian Bach, Suites for Cello Solo ( Single Voice Polyphony I )
- 2006: Miniatures & Folklore, Gavriel Lipkind,cello; Alexandra Lubchansky, piano