# Friedrich Lips

Friedrich Robertovitch Lips (born November 18, 1948) is a Russian bayanist and accordionist of German origin. Since 1989 he has been professor of the bayan accordion department at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music, one of two music academies in Moscow. He worked as a soloist, chamber musician, arranger, book author and teacher. In 1994 he was honored as a People's Artist of the Russian Federation.

## Biography

Friedrich Lips was born in 1948 to parents of German origin in the city of Yemanzhelinsk (Chelyabinsk district). In 1967 he finished his education at the "Mikhail Glinka" music school in Magnitogorsk in the class of E. Kudinov (bayan, conducting). He then went to Moscow to the Gnesin State Institute for Music Education, where he was a master student of Sergey Kolobkov and took his exams in his class in 1972 (bayan, conducting) and completed his postgraduate education in 1974.
From 1971 onwards he himself worked as a teacher at the Gnesin Institute. In 1980 he was appointed lecturer and in 1989 professor. Since 1996 he has been head of the Folk Instruments Department - to which the bayan accordion is assigned - at the institute, which has since been renamed the Russian Academy of Music. As a visiting professor, he taught at institutions and academies in Irun, Spain; Groningen, Netherlands; Royal Academy of Music, London; Tianjin, Shanghai, China. As a guest lecturer, he is internationally active in seminars, master classes and educational courses and also acted as a juror in music competitions. In 1989 he founded the international music festival "Bayan and Bayanists" in Moscow, which he chairs as Artistic Director, and initiated the Moscow Music Prize "Silver Disc" for bayan/accordion soloists.
During his work as a teacher, many musicians emerged from his classes who have since become award winners of national and international competitions, concert musicians and educators. As a performing artist, Friedrich Lips was first prize winner at the international music competition in Klingenthal (GDR) in 1969. In 1970 he was signed to the state Soviet concert agency Goskoncert. This is how he started his career as a concert virtuoso and chamber musician. In the following 30 years of uninterrupted concert activity, concerts took him to the US, Canada, China, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Norway, Denmark, to concert halls (including the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Lincoln Center New York, JF Kennedy Center Washington, to the musicians Gidon Kremer, Vladimir Igolinsky, Yo-Yo Ma, Vladimir Tonkha, Mark Pekarski and to the composers Sergey Berinsky, Mikhail Bronner, Alexander Kholminov, Evgeny Derbenko, Edison Denisov, Sofia Gubaidulina, Efrem Podgaits, Alfred Schnittke, Vladislav Zolotaryov, Kirill Volkov, Roman Ledenyov, Tatyana Sergeyeva, Vladimir Ryabov.

## Significance

He has worked in chamber music ensembles and has given concerts with orchestras under the direction of Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Spivakov, Yuri Bashmet, Oleg Agarkov, Timur Mynbayev, Yuri Nikolayevsky,Yūji Takahashi, Luca Pfaff, Lev Markis, Dmitry Liss, and Valery Gergiev. Many works were dedicated to him personally, more than 50 works were premiered by himself and 100 compositions - on more than 30 CDs - recorded and published in various countries in America, Europe and Asia. The CD Seven Words, released in Moscow, was awarded the "Diapason d’or" as CD of the year in Paris in 1991. In the US, the CD "Russian and Trepak" was awarded the 3rd prize in a competition organized by Just Plain Folks Music Awards 2006 in the category classical among solo albums with 25,500 nominated CDs.
He is also the author of music theory writings, articles and specialist books of importance. e.g. The Art of Bayan Playing (Kamen, 1991), The Art of Bayan Playing (Kamen, 2000), The Art of Editing Classical Music for Accordion (Kamen, 2017), The Art of Arranging Classical music for Accordion (Kamen, 2018), It seems like yesterday ... (Moscow, 2018).

## Awards

* 1993 Silver disc of the festival "Bayan and bayanists"
* 1994 State award "People's Artist of Russia"
* 2001 Musical Review: "Person of the Year"
* 2001 Order of Friendship
* 2005 Children's Art School No. 1 in Yemanzhelinsk was named after its first graduate Friedrich Lips
* 2006 honorary citizen of the Yemanzhelinsk district of the Chelyabinsk region
* 2008 "Bright Past" award from the O. Mityaev Foundation and the government of the Chelyabinsk region
* 2008 Gold medal of the Moscow Security Committee on the twentieth anniversary of the Moscow Autumn Festival
* 2008 "Merit Award" of the Confédération Internationale des Accordéonistes
* 2009 Russian Performing Arts Foundation: Golden Talent of Russia Diploma
* 2010 Honorary Professor at the London Academy of Music (Great Britain)
* 2011 Moscow City Prize
* 2015 laureate of the International Music Education Prize Ippolitova-Ivanova named after him
* 2019 As part of the "2019 World Music Awards", Friedrich Lips was voted "Musician of the Year" by the Accordion Stars Illustrated Magazine in New York, he received a "Lifetime Achievement Award" and was inducted into the "Accordion World Hall of Fame".

## World premieres

| Year | Place | Composer | Piece |
| 1971 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Vladislav Solotaryov | Sonata N° 2 (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1972 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Vladislav Solotaryov | Sonata N° 3 (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1975 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Alexander Shurbin | Fantasy and Fugue (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1975 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Alexander Shurbin | Toccata (neue Bearbeitung) |
| 1975 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Vladislav Solotaryov | Five compositions |
| 1975 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Vladislav Solotaryov | Children Suite N° 4 |
| 1975 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Vladislav Solotaryov | Children Suite N° 6 |
| 1976 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Vladislav Solotaryov | Spanish Rhapsody "Ispaniada" (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1976 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Vladislav Solotaryov | Monastery of Ferapont |
| 1976 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Vladislav Solotaryov | Children Suite N° 5 |
| 1977 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Kirill Volkov | Sonata N° 1 (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1977 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Vladislav Solotaryov | "Concert Symphony N° 1" for bayan and symphony orchestra |
| 1978 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Alexander Shurbin | Concert-Diptych (new arrangement) |
| 1978 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Vladimir Podgorny | Prelude in memory of Vl. Solotaryov |
| 1979 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Nikita Bogoslovsky | Three Russian Pieces: Fairy tale, Round dance, Dance |
| 1980 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Kirill Volkov | Sonata N° 2 |
| 1980 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Sofia Gubaidulina | De profundis (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1982 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Alexander Shurbin | Sonata N° 2 "Nostalgia" (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1982 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Pyotr Londonov | Scherzo-Toccata |
| 1982 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Sofia Gubaidulina | Partita "Seven Words" for bayan, violoncello and chamber orchestra (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips and Vladimir Tonkha) |
| 1984 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Alexander Shurbin | Sonata N° 3 "Walk through Neskutchny sad" (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1984 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Vladimir Podgorny | Fantasy on the Ukrainian folk song "Hey Thou Wind, blow up your country", 2nd arrangement (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1986 | Oslo (Norway) | Trygve Madsen | Partita in 4 parts for 2 bayans |
| 1987 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Sofia Gubaidulina | Sonate "Et exspecto" in 5 Sätzen (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1987 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Jewgenij Derbenko | Toccata (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1987 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Edison Denisov | Fantasy on Soviet songs from the 1930s "The steamer drives past the harbor" for bayan, piano and percussion |
| 1989 | Karstula (Finland) | Yevgeny Derbenko | Prelude and Toccata |
| 1990 | Sotshi (Soviet Union) | Vladimir Belyayev | Sonata N° 1 (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1991 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Sergey Berinsky | "Il dolce dolore" for bayan and violoncello |
| 1991 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Alexander Rosenblat | "Waltz and Blues for two" for bayan and violoncello |
| 1991 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Vladislav Solotaryov | "Concert Symphony N° 2" for bayan and symphony orchestra |
| 1991 | Moscow (Soviet Union) | Kirill Wolkow | "Stichera" for bayan and violoncello (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips and Vladimir Tonkha) |
| 1991 | Brussels (Belgium) | Sergey Berinsky | Partita "Also sprach Zarathustra" (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1992 | Amsterdam (Netherlands) | Bogdan Precz | Praeambulum and Toccata (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1992 | Moscow (Soviet Union) – Russian premiere | Sofia Gubaidulina | "Silenzio", Five Pieces for bayan, violin and violoncello |
| 1993 | Moscow (Russia) | Sergey Berinsky | Three pieces in "mauvais" style |
| 1994 | Moscow (Russia) | Gioacchino Rossini/Yevgeny Derbenko | Tarantella |
| 1994 | Moscow (Russia) | Sergey Berinsky | "Miserere" for soprano, bayan and piano (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips and Svyatoslav Lips) |
| 1995 | Klingenthal (Germany) | Vladimir Kobekin | "Holiday for two" for bayan and percussion |
| 1995 | Amsterdam (Netherlands) | Boudewijn Tarenskeen | "Requiem" for bayan and violoncello |
| 1995 | Amsterdam (Netherlands) | Alexander Larin | Three pieces for bayan |
| 1996 | Moscow (Russia) | Sergej Berinskij | Symphony N° 3 "... and the sky darkened" (Apocalypse, chapter 6) for bayan and symphony orchestra |
| 1996 | Moscow (Russia) | Alexander Wustin | "The Disappearance" for bayan, violoncello and chamber orchestra (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips and Vladimir Tonka) |
| 1996 | Moscow (Russia) | Edison Denisov | "From dusk to light" for bayan |
| 1997 | Amsterdam (Netherlands) | Alfred Schnittke | "Two little pieces for organ" (Version for bayan) |
| 1997 | Amsterdam (Netherlands) | Wladimir Rjabow | "The River of Love", Capriccio for bayan (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1997 | Groningen (Niederlande) | Sergey Berinsky | "Light waves" (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips and Miny Dekkers) |
| 1997 | Portogruaro (Italien) | Sergey Berinsky | "Sea World", Poem for violin and bayan |
| 1997 | Moscow (Russia) | Sergey Berinsky | "Cinema" |
| 1997 | Moscow (Russia) | Mikhail Bronner | "Dream Garden" for bayan and violoncello (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips and Vladimir Tonkha) |
| 1998 | Moscow (Russia) | Roman Ledenyov | "... against the background of a Russian landscape" (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1998 | Moscow (Russia) | Tatyana Sergeyeva | "Yasmine", Tango for bayan and piano (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips and Svyatoslav Lips) |
| 1998 | Portogruaro (Italy) | Mikhail Bronner | "Evenings near Moscow" for bayan, clarinet, violin, cello and double bass |
| 1999 | Moscow (Russia) | Mikhail Bronner | "Judas-Passion" for bayan and chamber orchestra (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1999 | Moscow (Russia) | Alexander Kholminow | "Symphony" for bayan solo (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 1999 | Moscow (Russia) | Efrem Podgaits | "Fantasy in memory of Alfred Schnittke" (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 2000 | Kuhmo (Finland) | Merab Gagnidze | "No comment" for bayan |
| 2001 | Moscow (Russia) | Tatyana Sergeyeva | "Dark-red rose" Tango for Quintett "Piazzolla-Studio" |
| 2002 | Klingenthal (Deutschland) | Efrem Podgaits | "Lips Concert" for bayan and symphony orchestra |
| 2003 | Stockholm (Sweden) | Sofia Gubaidulina | "Under the Sign of Scorpio" (Variations on Six Hexachords) for bayan and symphony orchestra |
| 2003 | Milwaukee (USA) | Efrem Podgaits | "Ex Animo" for bayan and string quartet (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips and Fine Arts Quartet) |
| 2004 | Moscow (Russia) | Mikhail Bronner | "Katuv" for bayan, piano and symphony orchestra (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips and Svyatoslav Lips) |
| 2006 | Moscow (Russia) | Roman Ledenyov | "Evening love songs" for bayan (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 2006 | Moscow (Russia) | Alexander Kholminov | "Autumn melody" for bayan (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 2006 | Moscow (Russia) | Efrem Podgaits | Sonata in 3 movements (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 2006 | Milwaukee (USA) | Yehuda Yannay | "Bayannayab" for 2 bayans |
| 2008 | Moscow (Russia) | Giya Kancheli | "KAPOTE" for bayan and chamber orchestra (Russian premiere) |
| 2008 | Moscow (Russia) | Efrem Podgaits | "Viva voce" – Concert N° 2 for chamber orchestra (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 2008 | Moscow (Russia) | Efrem Podgaits | "Ave Maria" for violoncello and bayan (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips and Vladimir Tonkha) |
| 2008 | Moscow (Russia) | Efrem Podgaits | "Cocktail Rio Rita " for bayan, violin, violoncello, piano and percussion (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 2008 | Moscow (Russia) | Mikhael Bronner | "Eclipse" (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 2008 | Moscow (Russia) | Roman Ledenyov | "Ave Maria" for violoncello and bayan |
| 2009 | Moscow (Russia) | Tatyana Sergeyeva | "Amaryllis" for bayan and piano (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips and Svyatoslav Lips) |
| 2010 | Moscow (Russia) | Alexander Kholminov | Concert for bayan and large symphony orchestra (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 2011 | Moscow (Russia) | Tatyana Sergeyeva | "Night Flowers" for bayan and piano (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips and Svyatoslav Lips) |
| 2011 | Moscow (Russia) | Sofia Gubaidulina | "Tatarian dance" for bayan and two double basses (Russian premiere) |
| 2011 | Moscow (Russia) | Sofia Gubaidulina | "Fachwerk" for bayan and strings (Russian premiere) |
| 2012 | Moscow (Russia) | Mikhael Bronner | "Seven Jewish Songs" for bayan and chamber orchestra |
| 2013 | Minsk (Belarus) | Konstantin Yaskov | "Hymn to Aphrodite" for bayan and chamber orchestra |
| 2013 | Evora (Portugal) | Alexander Kholminov | "Moment" for bayan (dedicated to Fridrikh Lips) |
| 2017 | Moskau (Russia) | Mikhail Bronner | "I float on waves of love", eight sonnets for bayan and chamber orchestra |
| 2018 | Moskau (Russia) | Efrem Podgaits | "Double Mirror" for bayan, violoncello and symphony orchestra |
| 2018 | Moskau (Russia) | Efrem Podgaits | "Odessa-Quodlibet" for violin, bayan, violoncello and piano |
| 2020 | Moskau (Russia) | Alexander Tchaikovsky | Sonata in two parts |
| 2021 | Moskau (Russia) | Mikhail Bronner | "Jewish Holidays" |
| 2021 | Moskau (Russia) | Mikhail Bronner | Dolce appassionato |