Sunday
Feb 25
2007
Helmut Lipsky with Berlin's L’Art de Passage
*Tango and jazz of the greatest vintage.*
Montreal's acclaimed violinist/composer Helmut Lipsky with Berlin's L’Art de Passage performing *Au perfum de Tango*
Helmut Lipsky, violin; Tobias Morgenstern, accordion; Stefan Kling, piano; Jean-Francois Martel, double bass.
*ideaCity05*
Winner: Best Musical Performance
La Performance Brilliante...
un Leonard Bernstein Canadien - REVUE COMPACT
A light, warm, superb touch...His compositions moved very comfortably in the company of marvellous Piazzolla items. Lipsky and his musicians seemed to revel in the virtuosity required by many of the evening's pieces without actually flaunting it. Flourish without flash, such a rare and compelling interpretive approach in these times when excess is so often and so easily excused in the name of music
- Mark Miller, GLOBE AND MAIL (reviewing the 2004 performance at Lula Lounge)
German-born violinist and composer Helmut Lipsky is well versed in a variety of musical styles and idioms. His composition and improvisation cross boundaries between classical and jazz as well as between pop and world music. Lipsky was raised in Switzerland, a student in the United States and has been a resident of Montreal since 1980. He has written music for film, television, radio and multi-media exhibitions. As performer and bandleader, he has been invited to numerous music festivals including The Montreal International Jazz Festival, the Toronto Jazz Festival, The Montreux International Jazz Festival in Switzerland, and has played in the United States at P.S.122 and Studio 54.
A former violin student of the renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman and the late Juilliard School professor Ivan Galamian in New York City, he has opened shows of such greats as Stéphane Grappelli and Dave Brubeck. Artistic collaborations include personalities as varied as Québec'sGilles Vigneault and U.S. cellist David Darling. He can be heard on albums of wellknown musicians like Swiss harpist Andreas Vollenweider (Kryptos, on Sony Classic label) and has been invited as soloist on the soundtracks of some of Canada's most famous films, notably for Québec director Denys Arcan. Lipsky has recorded several albums of his own and in collaboration with some of Canada's greatest artists such as Karen Young, Michel Donato and James Gelfand. He won first prize in the international competition Jazz à la carte and his last two CDs were nominated for best jazz and instrumental album at the Felix Awards (l'ADISQ) in Montréal.
Defying conventional musical categories, Lipsky's music has been labeled in turn as fusion, jazz, word beat, new age... None of these labels really stick, he has is own very personal musical language that remains ultimately unclassifiable, drawing from his vast experience and cultural background and the collective subconscious of music past and present, here and anywhere.