Valentina Lisitsa
Valentina Lisitsa is not only the first “YouTube star” of classical music; more importantly, she is the first classical artist to have converted her internet success into a global concert career in the principal venues of Europe, the United States, South America and Asia.
The Ukraine-born artist began her musical education in her native city of Kiev at the Lysenko Music School for highly talented children and continued it at the Conservatoire in the city. Not that Lisitsa confined her interest to the music world; from time to time, she dreamed of a career as a professional chess player.
She immigrated to the United States in 1992, where she launched herself as a piano-duet partner alongside her husband. Several competition successes and the consequent concert engagements marked the start of her life as a concert artist. Over time, however, her career ceased to progress, and Lisitsa looked for new ways of enlarging her audience. Her exceptional sense of new developments and her openness to unconventional approaches proved vital.
She posted her first video on YouTube in 2007, a recording of the Etude op. 39/6 by Sergei Rachmaninoff. In a broadcast interview, she said: “My first YouTube clip was a lo-fi VHS recording on an awful school piano, and my hands were out of sync with the sound. But even so, my message came across to people. Straight away they started telling me that my interpretations meant something to them, that they changed things, that they stood out.” The click-through rate went up and up, and more videos followed. The foundation stone of a social-network career unparalleled in the history of classical music was laid. Her YouTube channel now records morethan 62 million clicks and has almost 108,000 subscribers.
In May 2010, Lisitsa played the Dutch premiere of the newly arranged “Piano Concerto No. 5” (based on the Second Symphony) by Sergei Rachmaninoff with the Rotterdam Philharmonic. In August 2011, she debuted with the Orchestra Sinfonica Brasileira under the baton of Lorin Maazel, having previously played with such orchestras as the Chicago Symphony, WDR SO Cologne, Seoul Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Her appearances introduced her to such conductors as Manfred Honeck, Yannick Nézét-Séguin and Jukka-Pekka Saraste.
A spectacular recital in London's Royal Albert Hall before an audience of 8,000 in June 2012 set the seal on her international breakthrough. Listeners had the chance to vote online in advance for their preferred program – a form of audience participation that has become one of Lisitsa’s “trademarks.”
The major label Decca gave Lisitsa an exclusive artist contract, releasing the live recording of the RAH concert only one month later on CD and DVD. The following CD release presents the complete cycle of Rachmaninoff's four piano concertos and his Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Francis. Lisitsa presents various works by Franz Liszt on her recent CD release.
In February 2013, Lisitsa made her debut in the large auditorium of the Berlin Philharmonie. Concert commitments in 2013 and in the 20132-014 season take her to Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, Palma de Mallorca in the Balearic islands, the Rheingau Music Festival and to Cologne, Munich and Stuttgart. She also appeared at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall London, as well as in New York and Chicago. In 2014, she performs in London's Wigmore Hall, at Prinzregententheater München and with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra in Vienna and Istanbul.
For further information, please visit valentinalisitsa.com
The Ukraine-born artist began her musical education in her native city of Kiev at the Lysenko Music School for highly talented children and continued it at the Conservatoire in the city. Not that Lisitsa confined her interest to the music world; from time to time, she dreamed of a career as a professional chess player.
She immigrated to the United States in 1992, where she launched herself as a piano-duet partner alongside her husband. Several competition successes and the consequent concert engagements marked the start of her life as a concert artist. Over time, however, her career ceased to progress, and Lisitsa looked for new ways of enlarging her audience. Her exceptional sense of new developments and her openness to unconventional approaches proved vital.
She posted her first video on YouTube in 2007, a recording of the Etude op. 39/6 by Sergei Rachmaninoff. In a broadcast interview, she said: “My first YouTube clip was a lo-fi VHS recording on an awful school piano, and my hands were out of sync with the sound. But even so, my message came across to people. Straight away they started telling me that my interpretations meant something to them, that they changed things, that they stood out.” The click-through rate went up and up, and more videos followed. The foundation stone of a social-network career unparalleled in the history of classical music was laid. Her YouTube channel now records morethan 62 million clicks and has almost 108,000 subscribers.
In May 2010, Lisitsa played the Dutch premiere of the newly arranged “Piano Concerto No. 5” (based on the Second Symphony) by Sergei Rachmaninoff with the Rotterdam Philharmonic. In August 2011, she debuted with the Orchestra Sinfonica Brasileira under the baton of Lorin Maazel, having previously played with such orchestras as the Chicago Symphony, WDR SO Cologne, Seoul Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Her appearances introduced her to such conductors as Manfred Honeck, Yannick Nézét-Séguin and Jukka-Pekka Saraste.
A spectacular recital in London's Royal Albert Hall before an audience of 8,000 in June 2012 set the seal on her international breakthrough. Listeners had the chance to vote online in advance for their preferred program – a form of audience participation that has become one of Lisitsa’s “trademarks.”
The major label Decca gave Lisitsa an exclusive artist contract, releasing the live recording of the RAH concert only one month later on CD and DVD. The following CD release presents the complete cycle of Rachmaninoff's four piano concertos and his Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Francis. Lisitsa presents various works by Franz Liszt on her recent CD release.
In February 2013, Lisitsa made her debut in the large auditorium of the Berlin Philharmonie. Concert commitments in 2013 and in the 20132-014 season take her to Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, Palma de Mallorca in the Balearic islands, the Rheingau Music Festival and to Cologne, Munich and Stuttgart. She also appeared at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall London, as well as in New York and Chicago. In 2014, she performs in London's Wigmore Hall, at Prinzregententheater München and with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra in Vienna and Istanbul.
For further information, please visit valentinalisitsa.com