![]() Lisitsa's troubles started in 2015, when her concert with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra was canceled after controversial comments she made about the conflict in eastern Ukraine. "The thesis that we should judge the creator by their art and not by their personality is fundamentally important, but not always effective," Licheva said, calling the Sofia Philharmonic's invitations "shameful and immoral." In a time of war, she said, "art must give way to morality." Amelia Licheva, a professor of literature in Sofia, told RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service that she wants recently installed Bulgarian Culture Minister Nayden Todorov, an accomplished musician and conductor who has performed with Lisitsa and still directs the Sofia Philharmonic, to exclude Lisitsa from the April 20 and 23 concerts to celebrate 150 years since the birth of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. The move is sparking backlash and calls for her planned performances to be canceled. But not in Bulgaria's capital, where the 53-year-old pianist is expected to play twice in April. In her next Decca release, released in April 2015, Valentina played the piano music of Philip Glass.SOFIA - After embracing Russia's war on Ukraine, Valentina Lisitsa, a Kyiv-born classical pianist and the self-styled "Queen of Rachmaninoff," has seen her concerts canceled around the world. November 2014 brought the release of Études, an album comprising Schumann’s Symphonic Études as well as all of Chopin’s contributions to the genre. ![]() Featuring music from Nyman’s soundtracks to well-loved films such as The Piano and Wonderland, the companion digital release represents the complete published Nyman oeuvre for piano, running to over 110 minutes. In spring 2014, Decca issued Chasing Pianos, Valentina’s recording of the piano music of Michael Nyman, in celebration of the composer’s 70th birthday. 2013 saw the release of an exciting all-Liszt recital on both CD and LP. Her June 2012 Albert Hall recital, immediately available as both CD and DVD for pre-order on the night of the concert, was followed by a 2-CD release of the complete concertos of Rachmaninov and Paganini Rhapsody with the London Symphony Orchestra under Michael Francis. In 2012 Valentina Lisitsa signed an exclusive agreement with Decca Classics. Highlights of 2015 included performances with the Cincinnati Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Prague Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic and Baltimore Symphony orchestras as well as a recital tour of South Korea. Paul, Paris, Bucharest, Quebec, at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Bristol Proms and Menuhin Gstaad Festival and on tour in the Netherlands and Germany. 2014 included concerts in Dresden, Los Angeles, Paris, Vienna, Istanbul, Milan, Sao Paulo, Leipzig and on tour in Japan as well as recitals in St. The year’s concerto commitments took her across the USA as well as to Mexico City, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the BBC Proms in London. Y series with a programme chosen by the public online. As well as returning to the Berlin Philharmonie for a recital in December, Valentina also appeared in New York on 19 October to open the 92nd St. In February 2013 she made her debut in the main auditorium of the Berlin Philharmonie and during the year also gave recitals throughout Europe, in Washington, Brisbane and Seoul. Subsequent YouTube videos expanded her following, culminating in the 2012 Albert Hall recital. Valentina Lisitsa had found international fame online. Offered on Amazon, sales of the unedited recording skyrocketed after the couple posted it on YouTube. When her career seemed to be flagging, it was spectacularly reignited by a home-made DVD, shot by her husband in 2006, of Valentina playing the 24 Chopin Études. Since then, she has performed extensively around the world and appeared in such venues as London’s Wigmore Hall and Vienna’s Musikverein. In 1995 Lisitsa made her New York debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center. The couple married the following year and took the huge gamble of moving to the USA. In 1991 she won the Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition together with Alexei Kuznetsoff. She gained a place at the Lysenko Music School for Gifted Children and later studied under Ludmilla Tsvierko at the Kiev Conservatory. Born in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1973, Lisitsa began playing the piano at the age of three, giving her first solo recital a year later.
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