Reportedly the world's #1 YouTube pianist (43 million hits), Valentina
Lisitsa has signed to Decca. Her first CD will be recorded live in
recital next month at Royal Albert Hall. We can hope that this image
will not be the cover art
http://tiny.cc/19suew According to Norman
Lebrecht, Lisitsa has recorded — at her own expense — the four
Rachmaninov concertos, plus Paganini Variations, with the London
Symphony Orchestra and conductor Michael Francis. These may follow the
Albert Hall recital disc.
Lisitsa's YouTube catalog:
http://tiny.cc/0gtuew
Press release
25 May 2012
Internationally acclaimed pianist Valentina Lisitsa signs to Decca
Classics and takes over Royal Albert Hall for her London debut
concert.
Today it was announced that internationally acclaimed pianist
Valentina Lisitsa has signed an exclusive recording contract with
Decca Classics.
Born in Kiev, Ukraine, Valentina began playing the piano at the age of
three and performed her first solo recital just one year later. She
has won prestigious awards for her playing internationally, including
the Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition (together with her husband
Alexei Kuznetsoff).
Valentina Lisitsa has already performed at major international venues
including Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York and the
Vienna Musikverein, and in countries as far apart as the Netherlands
and Brazil. She has played with renowned orchestras including Chicago
Symphony, Seattle Symphony, San Francisco Symphony and the Pittsburgh
Symphony, collaborating with conductors Manfred Honeck, Yannick Nézet-
Séguin, and Jukka-Pekka Saraste, among others. Upcoming performances
are confirmed with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Philharmonie im
Gasteig, Munich with Muenchner Symphoniker and recitals at the
Victoria Hall in Geneva and Philharmonie Berlin.
With more than 43 million views and over 52,000 subscribers to her
YouTube channel, the young pianist is not only one of the fastest-
rising stars of the international concert scene but probably the
single most-watched classical musician, having rapidlyovertaken long-
established giants of the piano world in terms of global online
viewing figures.
Paul Moseley, Managing Director, Decca Classics, said: “Valentina is a
truly unique artist. Her YouTube fame is genuine and well-deserved,
and we are proud to be working with her as she reaches out to huge
numbers of classical fans in a modern and very immediate way”.
Where most classical artists merely use the social media to help
promote their existing touring and recording schedules,Valentina
Lisitsa has turned the traditional business model upside-down by
becoming the first classical solo artist to launch her career all on
her own, without first signing up with a tour promoter or record
company.
In a move that proves just how successfully an artist can use the
social media not only to champion classical music and performance but
even to kick-start an entirely self-made career, on June 19th
Valentina Lisitsa will be performing at the Royal Albert Hall, one of
the world’s most famous classical venues and home of the BBC Proms.
Jasper Hope, Chief Operating Officer, Royal Albert Hall said:
“Valentina is a force of nature and an extraordinary talent. I don’t
know anybody else who has done this before and we simply had to open
our doors to her and give her this opportunity on the world’s most
famous stage”
As a ‘thank you’ to her current online fans Valentina is determined to
make the concert a fully digital and interactive experience – by
inviting fans to vote online to decide what she will play and by fully
streaming the concert live via YouTube for those who can’t travel to
London. This level of online digital interaction is a first for a solo
classical concert.
Aptly for a truly global artist, Decca will immediately make the
recording of her Royal Albert Hall concert available for pre-order
with a digital-only release on June 25th, to be followed by the
release in CD format on 3rd July.
Valentina Lisitsa said: “I am thrilled signing to Decca Classics today
and immensely looking forward to my debut concert at the Royal Albert
Hall. I could not have done this without all my online fans around the
world. Their reactions tell me every day that I am doing the right
thing and that’s the best reward for my hard work. Now I want to say
thank you and give them a great concert live and online. Basically
it’s a gathering for friends old and new. It’s a concert, but it’s
also a celebration. There’s a lady from Barbados coming, even people
from New Zealand.”