Audrey Lipsey

Audrey Lipsey has been teaching violin for over 45 years and has been the Executive Director of Crescendo since 2000. Former orchestral positions include Concertmaster of St. Joseph Symphony Orchestra, Associate Concertmaster for the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra, and Assistant Concertmaster for the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. She is the former first violinist with the Opus IV String Quartet and Renaissance Strings.

Lipsey is a well-known educator in the area and serves as the conductor of the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Preparatory and Training Orchestras. She taught in early childhood settings for 18 years after teaching strings in the South Haven Public Schools for eight years. For her significant contributions to music education, Ms. Lipsey was awarded the Community Medal of Arts from the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo in 2002, the Mary McLeod Bethune Communication, Arts, & Letters Award from the Kalamazoo Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority in 2003, and the Prism Award for Excellence in Music Education from the Kalamazoo Alumni Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota Professional Women’s Music Fraternity, Inc. in 2006. In 2012 she was presented with a Woman of Achievement Award from the YWCA of Kalamazoo for her years of dedication to the education of area youngsters. In 2018, she was awarded the Community Medal of Arts in Arts Administration from the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo for her years of leadership at Crescendo Academy of Music.