Valentina Lisitsa

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Yevhenivna and the family name is Lisitsa.

Valentina Lisitsa
Валентина Лисиця
Lisitsa in 2003
Lisitsa in 2003
Background information
Born1973 (age 50–51)
Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Kyiv, Ukraine)
GenresClassical
OccupationClassical pianist
InstrumentPiano
Years active1977–present
Websitevalentinalisitsa.com

Valentina Yevhenivna Lisitsa[a] (born 1973)[1][2] is a pianist.[3][4] Lisitsa independently launched her career on social media, without initially signing with a tour promoter or record company. By 2012, Lisitsa was among the most frequently viewed pianists on YouTube.[5][6] The Toronto Symphony canceled her 2015 engagements as soloist with them because of her social media postings in support of pro-Russian separatists during the Russo-Ukrainian War.[7][8]

Life and career

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Valentina Lisitsa at the piano in 2010

Lisitsa was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Kyiv, Ukraine). Her mother, also named Valentina, is a seamstress and her father, Evgeny, was an engineer.[5] Her older brother, Eugene, died in 2009.[4][5]

She started playing the piano at the age of three, performing her first solo recital at the age of four.[9] She is of Russian and Polish descent on her mother's side, while her father is of Ukrainian heritage.[7][10]

Lisitsa attended the Lysenko music school and, later, the Kyiv Conservatory,[11] where she and her future husband, Alexei Kuznetsoff, studied under Dr. Ludmilla Tsvierko.[12] When Lisitsa met Kuznetsoff, she began to take music more seriously.[13] In 1991, they won the first prize in The Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition in Miami, Florida.[11][14][5] That same year, they moved to the United States to further their careers as concert pianists.[5] In 1992, the couple married.[5] Their New York debut was at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center in 1995.[12]

Lisitsa posted her first YouTube video in 2007. Her set of Chopin etudes reached the number-one slot on Amazon's list of classical video recordings, and became the most-viewed online collection of Chopin etudes on YouTube.[15][16]

In 2010, Lisitsa told an interviewer, she and her husband put their life savings into recording a CD of Rachmaninoff concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra, in hopes of furthering her career.[5] In the spring of 2012, before her Royal Albert Hall debut, Lisitsa signed with Decca Records, which later released those recordings.[5]

By mid-2012, she had logged nearly 50 million views of her YouTube videos.[6] By mid-2020, her videos reached 200 million views. Her YouTube channel had over 650,000 followers in early 2022.[17] Lisitsa signed a three-year contract with French record label Naïve in 2021.[17]

Lisitsa has performed in Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Benaroya Hall, Musikverein, Wigmore Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. She has posted online recitals and practicing streams. She has also collaborated with violinist Hilary Hahn in recital engagements.[11][5]

Political views and activities

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Lisitsa has expressed her opposition to what she considered Western interference within Ukraine.[8]

Lisitsa performed in front of the former Ukrainian Embassy in Moscow on 2 May 2022, to commemorate victims of the 2014 Trade Unions House fire.[18]

On May 9, 2022 Lisitsa played a concert in Mariupol in commemoration of its annexation by Russia.[1][19]

Twitter controversy

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In April 2015, a number of scheduled performances at Toronto Symphony Orchestra were canceled due to "provocative" posts that Lisitsa posted on her Twitter account; the orchestra initially did not specify which remarks led to this decision.[20][21] Lisitsa said that the orchestra threatened her if she spoke about the cancellation.[22] The CEO of Toronto Symphony later provided a seven-page compilation of her tweets that prompted the decision and said that it was "not a free speech issue, but rather an issue of someone practicing very intolerant and offensive expression through Twitter".[23][24]

The Toronto Star criticised the orchestra's decision in an editorial, writing that, "Lisitsa was not invited to Toronto to discuss her provocative political views. She was scheduled to play the piano. And second, banning a musician for expressing "'opinions that some believe to be offensive shows an utter failure to grasp the concept of free speech."[25] The Ukrainian Weekly has described her postings as "hate speech."[26][20] In response, Lisitsa commented that "satire and hyperbole [are] the best literary tools to combat the lies".[7][20] In 2022, Benjamin Ivry wrote in International Piano Magazine that Lisitsa had "parrot[ted] Putin’s propagandistic talking points about Ukraine".[27]

Discography

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Lisitsa has recorded for the Audiofon, CiscoMusic, and VAI labels.[28]

Her recording of the four sonatas for violin and piano by composer Charles Ives, made with Hilary Hahn, was released in October 2011 on Deutsche Grammophon label. Her album Valentina Lisitsa Live at the Royal Albert Hall (based on her debut performance at that venue 19 June 2012) was released 2 July 2012.

Notes

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  1. ^ Ukrainian: Валентина Євгенівна Лисиця, romanized: Valentyna Yevhenivna Lysytsia, IPA: [wɐlenˈtɪnɐ jeu̯ˈɦɛn⁽ʲ⁾iu̯nɐ lɪˈsɪtsʲɐ];
    Russian: Валентина Евгеньевна Лисица, romanized: Valentina Yevgenyevna Lisitsa, IPA: [vəlʲɪnʲˈtʲinə jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvnə lʲɪˈsʲitsə].

References

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  1. ^ a b "Pianist Valentina Lisitsa plays in the ruins of Mariupol, "liberated" by the Russians". 16 May 2022. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  2. ^ "«Культура отмены». Украинско-американская пианистка Валентина Лисица. Человек и закон. Фрагмент выпуска от 19.08.2022".
  3. ^ Everett-Green, Robert (7 December 2012). "Valentina Lisitsa: Playing the odds – by way of Rachmaninoff". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  4. ^ a b Ferenc, Leslie (10 April 2015). "For Valentina Lisitsa, not a note of regret after TSO snub". The Star. Toronto. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wilson, Sophie (19 August 2012). "Pianist Valentina Lisitsa: interview with the YouTube star". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  6. ^ a b Pianist Valentina Lisitsa on her debut at the Royal Albert Hall, BBC News (19 June 2012)
  7. ^ a b c Ukrainian-Born Pianist Replaced Over Pro-Rebel Comments , Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (7 April 2015)
  8. ^ a b Walker, Shaun (10 April 2015). "Ukraine-born pianist's Toronto concert cancelled over pro-Russia remarks". The Guardian.
  9. ^ "Calendar of Events and Exhibitions". National Museum of Women in the Arts. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
  10. ^ Ferenc, Leslie (10 April 2015). "For Valentina Lisitsa, not a note of regret after TSO snub". The Toronto Star.
  11. ^ a b c "Valentina Lisitsa, piano". Fresno Philharmonic. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
  12. ^ a b "N.C. Arts Council – Organizations Page". North Carolina Arts Council. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
  13. ^ "Valentina Lisitsa performs with the Oregon Symphony" (Press release). Oregon Symphony. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
  14. ^ "The Dranoff International Two Piano Foundation – 1991 Winner Biographies". The Dranoff International Two Piano Foundation. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
  15. ^ "Pianist Valentina Lisitsa: interview with the YouTube star". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  16. ^ "Valentina Lisitsa: Chasing Pianos And YouTube Fans". NPR. All Things Considered. 25 April 2014.
  17. ^ a b "Valentina Lisitsa joins naïve classique". Gramophone. 13 January 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  18. ^ "Пианистка Лисица отрепетировала концерт в память об одесской трагедии…". Archived from the original on 2 May 2022.
  19. ^ "Report: Valentina Lisitsa played in 'liberated' Mariupol". 11 May 2022.
  20. ^ a b c Everett-Green, Robert (6 April 2015). "Controversial Ukrainian-born pianist dropped from TSO concerts". The Globe and Mail. Toronto.
  21. ^ Wise, Brian (6 April 2015). "Orchestra Drops Pianist Valentina Lisitsa Over 'Deeply Offensive' Tweets". WQXR-FM.
  22. ^ Vincent, Michael (6 April 2015). "Breaking – TSO Dumps Upcoming Soloist Valentina Lisitsa Over Political Views". Ludwig Van Toronto.
  23. ^ "Toronto Symphony CEO Jeff Melanson breaks his silence". Musical Toronto. 8 April 2015.
  24. ^ "Lisitsa Social Media Posts" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2015.(PDF Password: MusicalToronto)
  25. ^ "TSO should not have dropped pianist Valentina Lisitsa: Editorial". The Star. Toronto. 7 April 2015.
  26. ^ "Hate Speech is not Free Speech". Ukrainian Weekly. 10 April 2015.
  27. ^ Ivry, Benjamin (1 April 2022). "Pianists speak out on Ukraine". Rhinegold. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  28. ^ "About Valentina Lisitsa". Audiofon-records.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
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