Violinist Isabella Lippi, who has been called “A standout, even among virtuosos,” began performing in public at the age of 10 when she made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She has since performed in numerous recitals and has appeared as guest soloist with orchestras in the United States, Mexico, Europe and the Far East.
In 1989, Isabella Lippi won the St. Louis Symphony Young Artist Competition, so impressing Maestro Leonard Slatkin, that for the first time in the 55-year history of the competition, the winner (Ms. Lippi) was invited to perform with the symphony in subscription concerts under Maestro Slatkin. Of this program, the St. Louis Post Dispatch declared, “Lippi introduced rhythmic subtleties into the music of the like that haven’t been heard since the heyday of Heifetz.”
In addition to the Chicago Symphony and the St. Louis Symphony, Isabella Lippi has performed with numerous orchestras including the Dallas Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, New Orleans Symphony, Tulsa Philharmonic, the New World Symphony under Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, the Mexico City Philharmonic under Enrique Batiz, the San Diego Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Vermont Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de Bilbao of Spain, and the Moscow Symphony.
Ms. Lippi has won a number of competitions and awards including First Place in the Young Musicians Foundation National Debut Competition, Highest Honors in the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Talent Search, the Henryk Szerying International Competition, and the Illinois Young Performers Competition where she performed again with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a live television broadcast under Maestro Hugh Wolff. She was also named a Presidental Scholar in the Arts.
In January 1998, Isabella Lippi made her New York City recital debut at the 92nd Street Y’s Tisch Center for the Arts. Other important debuts included recitals at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Chicago’s Ravinia Festival and the famous Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
In addition to her work as a soloist, Ms. Lippi has participated in numerous chamber music festivals including those of Santa Fe, La Jolla, Mainly Mozart and the Aspen Music Festival. She was Concertmaster of the Charleston Symphony from 1999-2002 and is currently Concertmaster of the Elgin Symphony.
Ms. Lippi has been a featured artist on a number of radio stations throughout the United States including WQXR in New York, WNIB in Chicago and KFAC in Los Angeles; and in a nationally distributed educational program entitled Encounters. She is featured on a CD on the Koch International label which contains complete works for violin and piano and the solo works by the late composer, Miklos Rozsa.
Born in Chicago, Isabella Lippi’s teacher have included Robert Lipsett at the University of Southern California, Dorothy Delay at the Juilliard School and Almita and Roland Vamos in Chicago.