Valentina Lisitsa, the “YouTube Pianist,” made her sensational solo debut at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 19 June. Streamed live on YouTube the concert received an incredible 74,329 views, with some 6,000 comments being posted on Valentina’s YouTube Channel to date. "This Decca debut [is] a guaranteed chart-topper. It helps that she is gifted: there's an admirable lightness of touch and appreciation of rhythmic flow to her "Für Elise", and her negotiation of Liszt's "Un Sospiro" is captivating..." – Andy Gill, The Independent, London [07 July 2012] "It soon became clear Lisitsa is a serious artist. She’d chosen a hugely taxing programme, book-ended with two Liszt showpieces. She played these with urgent intensity and a feeling for their sudden moments of pathos, which lifted them out of their showpiece status. Her essential attribute is a fevered urgency, an almost desperate desire to suck the expressive marrow from a piece." – Ivan Heweitt, The Telegraph [20 June 2012]