The audience at Cambridge Corn Exchange on Wednesday, March 7, applauded and cheered for several minutes at the end of a performance of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff by the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Valery Polyansky with virtuoso pianist Valentina Lisita.
Valentina Lisita is credited with being not only the first YouTube star of classical music but also the first to have converted her internet success into a global concert career, playing in prestigeous venues in Europe, the United States, South America and Asia.
The first video she posted on YouTube in 2007 was a recording of the Etude by Sergei Rachmaninoff. She now gets an average 75,000 views per day. The concert, which was part of the Cambridge Classical Concert Series, began with three excerpts from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping beauty, the Introduction to Act 1, the Rose Adagio from Act 1 and the Waltz from Act 1.
It continued with the mischievous staccatto rhythm and perfectly timed string plucking of Segei Rachmaninoff’s third concerto: the Allegro ma non tanto, Intermezzo Adagio and Finale Alla breve.
The concert ended with pieces from Tchaikovsky’s Symphony number 4. The applause was long and celebratory with the audience reluctant to end a magical evening.
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