Igor Kipnis

Igor Kipnis ( born September 27, 1930 in Berlin, † January 24, 2002 in Redding / Connecticut was an American harpsichordist.

The son of Ukrainian bass Alexander Kipnis came at the age of eight years in the U.S., where he mother's side with his grandfather, the pianist and composer Heniot Levy, received his first piano lessons. After visiting the Westport School of Music he studied until 1952 at Harvard University at Randall Thompson and Thurston Dart. He also took harpsichord lessons with Fernando Valenti.

In 1959 he was first heard as a harpsichordist in a New York radio station, his concert debut followed in 1961. From 1964 to 1967 he gave summer courses at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood. From 1971 to 1975 he taught at Fairfield University in Connecticut, then he was there until 1978 Artist in Residence.

His first European tour took Kipnis 1967. 1981 he made his debut as a pianist in Indianapolis. A number of contemporary musicians, including Ned Rorem, George Rochberg, Richard Rodney Bennett, Barbara Kolb and John McCabe, composed works for him.

• Harpsichordist
• Americans
• Born in 1930
• Died in 2002
• Man