Natalia Lipnitska
Classical guitarist, pedagogue, and recording artist Natalia Lipnitskaya has been a prizewinner in numerous international guitar competitions and has performed throughout Europe, the United States, and Mexico. Born in Belarus, Natalia began playing guitar at age nine and attended the Mikhail Glinka State Musical College (Minsk, Belarus) where she studied with Vladimir Belyshev and received a Teacher's Diploma with highest honors. In 2004, she received the Artist Diploma from the Belorussian National Academy of Music (Minsk, Belarus) and was also awarded a diploma with highest honors. At the Academy, she studied with Evgeny Gridiushko. Natalia earned bachelor’s and master’s of music (2006 and 2008, both with honors) from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria and studied with Alvaro Pierri. Natalia attended the Paris National Conservatory of Music and studied with Olivier Chassain as part of the European exchange program ERASMUS.
Natalia's impressive list of prizes include: 2nd Prize and Audience Prize at the Ville d’Antony International Guitar Competition (Antony, France, 2010); First Prize at the
International Guitar Competition in Savona, Italy (2005); First Prize at the Antonio Aparicio International Guitar Competition (Alicante, Spain, 2004); First Prize at the International Guitar Competition in Kutna Hora (Czech Republic, 2004) and First Prize at the John Duarte International Guitar Competition, (Rust, Austria, 2002).
In demand as a solo artist around the world, Natalia has recently performed at Les Rencontres Internationales de Bulle, Switzerland, (September 2018); at the Festival International de Lambesc, France, (June 2018); at the Festival et Concours International de Carry le Rouet, France (recital and competition juror, June 2018) and in Mexico at the Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Monterrey, April, 2018. She has performed in recital at the International John Duarte Guitar Festival in Austria, at the “Hommage à Astor Piazzolla” in Urania Klub, Vienna; in multiple recitals at the Belorussian State Philharmonic Hall in Minsk, and at the Brno International Guitar Festival. She has toured the United States, performing at the University of Texas at Dallas and California State University, Northridge.
Natalia is an experienced educator with a successful record of studio teaching and leading master classes. She has held past teaching positions at the Conservatoire de Courbevoie, Courbevoie, France (2010-2018) and at Pôle d’Enseignement Supérieur de la Musique Seine-Saint-Denis Île-de-France (2011-2017).
Natalia has released a solo album of Bach transcriptions for guitar (Music Inside Records, 2014) and was featured on a forty minute television portrait titled “The Guitar of Natalia Lipnitskaya,” BT1 National TV Channel of Belarus, 2005. She currently lives in San Francisco, California and teaches for the preparatory program of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.