Valentina Lisitsa

Valentina Lisitsa is a world-renowned classical pianist, born on March 25, 1970, in Kyiv, Ukraine. She began playing the piano at the age of three and performed her first solo recital just a year later. She received her musical education at the Lysenko State Music School and the Kyiv Conservatory, where she studied under Lyudmila Tsvirko. In 1991, she and her husband, Alexei Kuznetsov, won the first prize in the Dranoff International Two Piano Competition, which allowed them to move to the United States to launch their international careers.

After her career initially slowed down, Lisitsa found a new path to fame through the internet. In 2007, she began uploading performances to YouTube, becoming one of the first classical musicians to build a massive global following online. Her channel has since reached over 300 million views. This digital success led to a major recording contract with Decca in 2012 and a high-profile debut at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Lisitsa has performed with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony. She has appeared in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Musikverein in Vienna. Her repertoire is exceptionally broad, featuring the works of Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, and contemporary composers like Philip Glass and Michael Nyman.

In recent years, Lisitsa has been the subject of significant controversy due to her political views regarding the conflict in Ukraine. Her public statements led to the cancellation of several international engagements, including performances with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 2015 and concerts in Budapest and Istanbul in 2022. She has expressed support for Russian actions in Ukraine and has performed in Russian-occupied territories. As of 2022, she resides in Moscow.

Her extensive discography includes complete cycles of solo piano works by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, as well as numerous recordings of Beethoven's sonatas and Chopin's études. She continues to be a prominent figure in the classical music world, known for her technical virtuosity and her pioneering use of social media to reach audiences.