Keith Lipson is currently principal clarinettist of the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, guest professor at the Central Conservatory of Music, and conductor of the Dunshan Symphonic Wind Orchestra.  

At the age of 16, Keith won 1st prize in the International Clarinet Association Solo Competition. In the same year, Keith became one of the youngest clarinetist to be accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music. While at Curtis, Keith was principal clarinet of the Curtis orchestra for 2 years.  

He was previously principal clarinet with the Verbier Festival Orchestra  the Orchestra of the State of Mexico, the KBS orchestra and has performed with the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He has appeared in the chamber music series at Barge Music in New York with members of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. He is a member of the International Contemporary Music Ensemble in New York, and has performed with them at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center. Keith is a co-founder of the Beijing New Music Ensemble whose debut album was recorded on the Naxos label. Keith has also recorded two albums on the Sony Classical label with the New York based Knights Chamber Orchestra and toured extensively with them as principal clarinet in Europe and the US.   

Keith is also a devoted teacher whose students have been accepted at prestigious music schools and conservatories, including the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School of Music, Royal College of Music, the Yale School of Music, the Colburn School of Music, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Oberlin School of Music, Hamburg Hochschule for Music among others. Keith's students have also won major principal clarinet positions throughout China including the China Philharmonic and the Guiyang Symphony. 

Keith is probably the only foreign musician in modern Chinese history who has ever performed at a Chinese state banquet for foreign dignitaries. At the request of the Chinese State Department he was invited in 2017 to perform for the leaders of China and the United States.