Performer and educator. One of the most renowned and authoritative musicians in Russia, he has also achieved broad international recognition. His diverse creative work largely defines the development of the classical bayan at the present stage.
He was born in 1948 in Yemanzhelinsk, Chelyabinsk Region. In 1967, he graduated from the Magnitogorsk Glinka Music College (bayan class of E. A. Kudinov). In 1972, he graduated from the Gnesin State Musical Pedagogical Institute (now the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music), and in 1974, he completed his postgraduate studies there (under the supervision of S. M. Kolobkov).
He is a laureate of the All-Russian Competition for Music College Students (Sverdlovsk, 1967, 1st degree diploma) and a laureate of the International Competition in Klingenthal (Germany, 1969, 1st prize).
Since 1971, he has been teaching at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music. He became a professor in 1989, Head of the Folk Instruments Department in 1996, and since 2004, he has served as Head of the Bayan and Accordion Department at the Faculty of Folk Instruments of the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music.
Friedrich Lips is the first performer of 78 works for the bayan by Russian and foreign composers. Among the authors who have dedicated their compositions to him are Vl. Zolotaryov, S. Gubaidulina, E. Denisov, A. Kholminov, R. Ledenyov, K. Volkov, S. Berinsky, E. Podgaits, M. Bronner, T. Sergeyeva, A. Zhurbin, and many others.
Over 100 works have been recorded by F. R. Lips for the Radio archives and released on 40 CDs in Russia, the USA, Japan, Austria, Germany, and Sweden. His recording of S. Gubaidulina’s partita «Seven Words» received the «Diapason d’Or» award in Paris and was named the best disc of 1991. The album «Russian and Trepak» won 3rd prize in the USA at the 2006 Just Plain Folks Music Awards in the classical solo album category, out of 25,500 nominated discs.
Friedrich Lips has performed in the world’s major concert halls (Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Lincoln Center in New York, John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam) with many outstanding musicians, including G. Rozhdestvensky, V. Spivakov, Y. Bashmet, V. Gergiev, V. Jurowski, R. Kofman, V. Tonkha, A. Rudin, K. Rodin, M. Pekarsky, G. Kremer, Yo-Yo Ma, Vl. Igolinsky, and others.
He has toured with solo concerts in the USA, Canada, Japan, China, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, and other countries. He has repeatedly participated in international seminars and summer courses in Spain, Finland, Norway, France, and Yugoslavia, as well as in international bayan festivals and contemporary chamber music festivals in Amsterdam (Netherlands), Huddersfield (England), Lockenhaus (Austria), Turin (Italy), Boston (USA), and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (Germany).
Among the students of Professor F. R. Lips’s class are more than 60 laureates of international and national competitions.
F. Lips is the author of three books:
- The Art of Playing the Bayan (Moscow, Muzyka, 1985; published in German by Intermusik Schmuelling, Germany);
- On the Art of Bayan Transcription (Moscow, Muzyka, 2007);
- It Seems It Was Yesterday... (Moscow, Muzyka, 2008).
F. Lips is also the author of a number of articles on the theory of bayan performance. His books and articles have been published in Russia (Muzyka Publishing House) and abroad, translated into German and English.
F. Lips has authored numerous arrangements and transcriptions for the bayan (published by Muzyka and SK in Moscow, and Intermusik Schmuelling in Germany). Among the collections edited by F. R. Lips, the 10-volume Anthology of Literature for Bayan, published by Muzyka, is particularly notable.
F. Lips is the founder and artistic director of the International Festival «Bayan and Bayanists», held in Moscow since 1989, and the initiator of the All-Russian Day of Bayan, Accordion, and Harmonica (established in 2010). He frequently serves as a jury member for many international bayan competitions.
Awards:
- 1993: Silver Disc of the International Festival «Bayan and Bayanists» (Moscow);
- 1994: Awarded the title of «People’s Artist of Russia»;
- 2001: Awarded the Order of Friendship;
- 2002: Named «Musician of the Year» by the Musical Review (Muzykalnoye Obozreniye) newspaper;
- 2005: Children’s School of Arts No. 1 in Yemanzhelinsk was named after its first graduate, Friedrich Lips;
- 2006: Awarded the title of «Honorary Citizen of the Yemanzhelinsky Municipal District of the Chelyabinsk Region»;
- 2008: Recipient of the «Bright Past» award from the Oleg Mityaev Foundation and the Government of the Chelyabinsk Region;
- 2008: Awarded the Gold Medal of the Moscow Composers’ Union for the 30th anniversary of the «Moscow Autumn» festival;
- 2009: Awarded the «Golden Talent of Russia» diploma by the Russian Performing Arts Foundation;
- 2010: Elected Honorary Professor of the London Academy of Music (UK);
- 2011: Laureate of the Moscow Prize;
- In 2012, China Post released a postage stamp with a portrait of a musician.
