<start>Igor Lipinski received his Masters of Music in Piano Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester where he studied piano under the tutelage of Prof. Douglas Humpherys. At Eastman, Igor worked as a teaching assistant for Prof. Tony Caramia and Prof. Vincent Lenti. In January of 2011, he was appointed to the piano faculty at the Hochstein School of Music & Dance. In April of 2011, Igor was awarded Eastman’s TA Prize for Excellence in Teaching. In 1998, at the age of 12, Igor received the Grand Prix for Young Pianists at the Paderewski Competition in Kasna Dolna, Poland. In 2004, Igor participated in the Paderewski Festival in Buffalo, NY where he was presented the Grand Prix Award in the piano category. At the festival, Igor played a lead role of the young pianist in the theater play “Paderewski’s Children” staged by the University at Buffalo and directed by Kazimierz Braun. In 2005, Igor graduated from Paderewski Music High School in Tarnow, Poland where he studied under the direction of Jaroslaw Iwaneczko. In May of 2008, Igor made his American orchestra debut with Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra playing Paderewski Piano Concerto under the baton of JoAnn Falletta. The performance was featured on NPR’s Performance Today.