Gavriel Lipkind
Sundry
Full Biography
“ Gavriel Lipkind, an intriguing and dynamic musician on stage, is also a person of great creativity and thought, intellectual involvement and kindness [...] ” (Anna von Bülow, portrait review of The Solitude Cycle project)

Born in 1977 in Israel to a family of immigrants from Moscow, Lipkind enjoyed a stellar rise to fame in his early years and appeared in some of the world’s most prestigious venues with orchestras such as the Israel Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic and the Baltimore Symphony, working alongside outstanding musicians such as Zubin Mehta, Philippe Entremont, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Yehudi Menuhin, Pinchas Zukerman, Yuri Bashmet and Gidon Kremer. Having graduated from three major academies on three continents and won more than a dozen top prizes in major competitions, Lipkind found himself at the pinnacle of his youthful achievements. 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. “ (Ellen Kohlhaas, 1997)

In spite of his fulminant success as a young cellist, Lipkind decided aged 23 to take a sabbatical and focus wholly on the innermost aspects of his musicianship. With the precognition of an old man he relocated into a small village in the Taunus mountains near Frankfurt and spent the next three years working reflectively on his repertoire, liaising with composers, experimenting with new instruments and considering new approaches to established formations and traditions.
Concluding three years of his active retreat he returned to concert stage, concurrently releasing two contrasting albums: Miniatures and Folklore, featuring his own arrangements and Single Voice Polyphony, showcasing Bach’s Cello Suites. These two recordings revealed a conceptual musician with an own compositional voice and a true expressive virtuoso with a deep knowledge of the cello. Remarkably, shortly thereafter, four albums featuring major cello concertos, an album titled ‘In Search of New Worlds’ showcasing the Lipkind Quartet as well as half a dozen recital programs for live broadcast were produced and consequently released, putting Lipkind in a unique niche all of his own.

“ Gavriel Lipkind proves that he is certainly the finest cellist playing today “ (Bernard Greenhause in 2006)

120000 sold copies of exclusive editions and four reprints later, these recordings have long become celebrated jewels and collector’s items in the music world. Off stage – not yet in his 30’s – Gavriel Lipkind inspired hundreds of cellists, string players and ensembles around the world by sharing his modus  vivendi  in masterclasses and organising special retreat courses for musicians.

That was 10 years ago -

Nowadays, Lipkind is often referred to by the press as “The Cello Maverick”, an “Ausnahmecellist” (meaning ‘exception[al]-cellist’ in German), and an “Iconoclastic Thinker”. His touring with outstanding orchestras and conductors – most recently worth noting Mariinsky Theatre under Valery Gergiev, Brussels Philharmonic under Anthony Wit and Michel Tabachnik, and Tokyo Metropolitan under Eliyahu Inbal – remains a mere part of a rich spectrum of activities: “[...] played from memory with the unbridled panache of a rock artist” (Irish Times), his solo  recitals carry the impact of dramatic musical confessions; “these painfully truthful, dynamic, intimate performances force listeners to hand-over the control over their body and mind” (Single Voice Polyphony Review).
Lipkind’s loyal musical friends join him on Cello Concertante tours performing whole programs of concertos for cello and strings or collaborate on programs dedicated to a specific composer – most recently ‘Lipkind plays Schubert’. The Violino Basso – a string instrument resembling a small cello, invented and mastered by Lipkind over the past decade – allows him now to natively perform violin, viola and winds music further expanding his vast range of repertoire.

Finally, a new space for filming classical music - concertlab.com - was founded in early 2018, allowing great audio recordings of unparalleled quality to be visually captured.

Besides the well known masterworks, Lipkind’s repertoire encompasses numerous rarities, newly commissioned works, own arrangements, and a radical approach to chamber music.

“ [...] a significant percentage of listeners left the hall in tears. ” (The Strad)

Gavriel Lipkind plays a unique Italian cello labeled "Aloysius Michael Garani (Bologna, 1702)" estimated, however, to have been completed in the years 1670- 1680; An enigma which has come to be known as “The Zihrhonheimer cello”. This instrument has been made available thanks to the generous support of D. & M. P.

2021/2022

This biography is for website use only.  If you wish to revise, or receive a full and updated biography, please contact Mark Stephan Buhl Artists Management (office@msbuhl.com). Please use material of the current season only, thank you.