:Valentina Lisitsa

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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. Her older brother, Eugene, died in 2009.{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=Sophie |title=Pianist Valentina Lisitsa: interview with the YouTube star |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/9467708/Pianist-Valentina-Lisitsa-interview-with-the-YouTube-star.html |access-date=7 June 2019 |newspaper=The Telegraph |location=London |date=19 August 2012}}

She started playing the piano at the age of three, performing her first solo recital at the age of four.{{cite web |url=http://www.nmwa.org/calendar/detail.asp?eventId=846 |title=Calendar of Events and Exhibitions |access-date=12 July 2009 |publisher=National Museum of Women in the Arts |archive-date=22 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222054417/http://www.nmwa.org/calendar/detail.asp?eventId=846 |url-status=dead }} She is of Russian and Polish descent on her mother's side, while her father is of Ukrainian heritage.[http://www.rferl.org/content/ukrainian-born-pianist-sacked-for-pro-rebel-comments/26942226.html Ukrainian-Born Pianist Replaced Over Pro-Rebel Comments ], Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (7 April 2015){{Cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2015/04/10/for-valentina-lisitsa-not-one-note-of-regret.html|title = For Valentina Lisitsa, not a note of regret after TSO snub|newspaper = The Toronto Star|date = 10 April 2015|last1 = Ferenc|first1 = Leslie}}

Lisitsa attended the Lysenko music school and, later, the Kyiv Conservatory,{{cite web |url=http://fresnophil.org/LisitsaBio.html |title=Valentina Lisitsa, piano |access-date=12 July 2009 |publisher=Fresno Philharmonic |archive-date=25 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225130832/http://fresnophil.org/LisitsaBio.html |url-status=dead }} where she and her future husband, Alexei Kuznetsoff, studied under Dr. Ludmilla Tsvierko.{{cite web |url=http://www.ncarts.org/orgspage.cfm?ser=59948 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927161751/http://www.ncarts.org/orgspage.cfm?ser=59948 |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 September 2011 |title=N.C. Arts Council – Organizations Page |access-date=16 July 2009 |publisher=North Carolina Arts Council}} When Lisitsa met Kuznetsoff, she began to take music more seriously.{{cite press release |url=http://www.orsymphony.org/bios/guestartists/lisitsa.aspx |title=Valentina Lisitsa performs with the Oregon Symphony |access-date=12 July 2009 |publisher=Oregon Symphony}} In 1991, they won the first prize in The Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition in Miami, Florida.{{cite web |url=http://dranoff2piano.org/bio_page_1991.htm#lk |title=The Dranoff International Two Piano Foundation – 1991 Winner Biographies |access-date=16 July 2009 |publisher=The Dranoff International Two Piano Foundation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205233753/http://dranoff2piano.org/bio_page_1991.htm#lk |archive-date=5 December 2008 |url-status=dead }} That same year, they moved to the United States to further their careers as concert pianists. In 1992, the couple married. Their New York debut was at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center in 1995.

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.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/9467708/Pianist-Valentina-Lisitsa-interview-with-the-YouTube-star.html |title=Pianist Valentina Lisitsa: interview with the YouTube star |access-date=19 August 2012 |work=The Daily Telegraph}}{{cite news |url=http://wboi.org/post/valentina-lisitsa-chasing-pianos-and-youtube-fans |title=Valentina Lisitsa: Chasing Pianos And YouTube Fans |date=25 April 2014 |work=NPR |series=All Things Considered}}

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. In the spring of 2012, before her Royal Albert Hall debut, Lisitsa signed with Decca Records, which later released those recordings.

By mid-2012, she had logged nearly 50 million views of her YouTube videos. By mid-2020, her videos reached 200 million views. Her YouTube channel had over 650,000 followers in early 2022.{{cite news |title=Valentina Lisitsa joins naïve classique |url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/article/valentina-lisitsa-joins-naive-classique |access-date=3 March 2022 |work=Gramophone |date=13 January 2022 |language=en}} Lisitsa signed a three-year contract with French record label Naïve in 2021.

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.

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

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.{{cite web | url=https://riafan.ru/23161457-pianistka_lisitsa_otrepetirovala_kontsert_v_pamyat_ob_odesskoi_tragedii_u_posol_stva_ukraini | archive-url=https://archive.today/20220502200327/https://riafan.ru/23161457-pianistka_lisitsa_otrepetirovala_kontsert_v_pamyat_ob_odesskoi_tragedii_u_posol_stva_ukraini | url-status=dead | archive-date=2022-05-02 | title=Пианистка Лисица отрепетировала концерт в память об одесской трагедии… }}

On May 9, 2022 Lisitsa played a concert in Mariupol in commemoration of its annexation by Russia.{{cite web | url=https://newsinfrance.com/pianist-valentina-lisitsa-plays-in-the-ruins-of-mariupol-liberated-by-the-russians/ | title=Pianist Valentina Lisitsa plays in the ruins of Mariupol, "liberated" by the Russians | date=16 May 2022 | access-date=24 May 2022 | archive-date=7 February 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207112939/https://newsinfrance.com/pianist-valentina-lisitsa-plays-in-the-ruins-of-mariupol-liberated-by-the-russians/ | url-status=dead }}{{cite web | url=https://slippedisc.com/2022/05/report-valentina-lisitsa-played-in-liberated-mariupol/ | title=Report: Valentina Lisitsa played in 'liberated' Mariupol | date=11 May 2022 }}

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.{{cite news| url=https://www.wqxr.org/story/orchestra-drops-valentina-lisitsa-over-deeply-offensive-tweets/| title=Orchestra Drops Pianist Valentina Lisitsa Over 'Deeply Offensive' Tweets| publisher=WQXR-FM| last1=Wise| first1=Brian| date=6 April 2015}} Lisitsa said that the orchestra threatened her if she spoke about the cancellation.{{cite news |url=http://www.musicaltoronto.org/2015/04/06/breaking-tso-bans-upcoming-soloist-valentina-lisitsa-over-political-views/ |title=Breaking – TSO Dumps Upcoming Soloist Valentina Lisitsa Over Political Views |first1=Michael |last1=Vincent |date=6 April 2015 |publisher=Ludwig Van Toronto}} 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".{{cite news |url=http://www.musicaltoronto.org/2015/04/08/interview-toronto-symphony-ceo-jeff-melanson-breaks-his-silence/ |title=Toronto Symphony CEO Jeff Melanson breaks his silence |work=Musical Toronto |date=8 April 2015}}{{cite web |url=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/61455732/Lisitsa_Social_Media_Posts.pdf |title=Lisitsa Social Media Posts |access-date=18 April 2015 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304062201/https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/61455732/Lisitsa_Social_Media_Posts.pdf |url-status=dead }}(PDF Password: MusicalToronto)

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."{{cite news |url=https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2015/04/07/tso-should-not-have-dropped-pianist-valentina-lisitsa-editorial.html |title=TSO should not have dropped pianist Valentina Lisitsa: Editorial |newspaper=The Star |location=Toronto |date=7 April 2015}} The Ukrainian Weekly has described her postings as "hate speech."{{cite journal |title=Hate Speech is not Free Speech |journal=Ukrainian Weekly |date=10 April 2015 |url=https://www.ukrweekly.com/uwwp/hate-speech-is-not-free-speech/}} In response, Lisitsa commented that "satire and hyperbole [are] the best literary tools to combat the lies".{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/ukrainian-born-soloist-dropped-from-tso-for-her-political-views/article23812295/ |title=Controversial Ukrainian-born pianist dropped from TSO concerts |last1=Everett-Green |first1=Robert |date=6 April 2015 |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto}} In 2022, Benjamin Ivry wrote in International Piano Magazine that Lisitsa had "parrot[ted] Putin’s propagandistic talking points about Ukraine".{{cite web |last1=Ivry |first1=Benjamin |title=Pianists speak out on Ukraine |url=https://www.rhinegold.co.uk/international_piano/pianists-speak-out-on-ukraine/ |website=Rhinegold |access-date=5 May 2022 |language=en |date=1 April 2022}}

Lisitsa has recorded for the Audiofon, CiscoMusic, and VAI labels.{{cite web |url=http://audiofon-records.com/Valentina/valentina-bio.htm |title=About Valentina Lisitsa |publisher=Audiofon-records.com |access-date=15 July 2012 |archive-date=29 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929073723/http://audiofon-records.com/Valentina/valentina-bio.htm |url-status=dead }}

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.

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• [http://www.valentinalisitsa.com Valentina Lisitsa's website]
• [https://www.facebook.com/ValentinaLisitsa?fref=ts Official Facebook page]
• [https://twitter.com/ValLisitsa Her official Twitter page], one that was the source of the controversy
• [http://derricksblog.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/music-review-pianist-valentina-lisitsa-returns-to-george-fox-university Review of Valentina Lisitsa's 30 September 2010 recital at George Fox University]
• [http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/valentina-lisitsa-and-alexei-kuznetsoff/Content?oid=906142 Valentina Lisitsa and Alexei Kuznetsoff]

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Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American pianists

Category:20th-century American women pianists

Category:20th-century Ukrainian classical pianists

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Category:21st-century American women pianists

Category:21st-century Ukrainian classical pianists

Category:American classical pianists

Category:American women classical pianists

Category:Kyiv Conservatory alumni

Category:Musicians from Kyiv

Category:Ukrainian emigrants to the United States

Category:Ukrainian people of Polish descent

Category:Ukrainian people of Russian descent

Category:Ukrainian women pianists

Category:1973 births

Category:Pro-Russian people of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine

Category:Ukrainian collaborators with Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine