Valentina Lisitsa has a unique story among contemporary concert pianists. Born and trained in Kiev, she got her start as Hilary Hahn’s accompanist, then found global acclaim when her YouTube videos of the Rachmaninoff Études — filmed in her adopted home of New Bern, NC — went viral. Now, she counts over 70 million views on her YouTube channel and a full calendar of international touring. The Daily Telegraph proclaims, “Her essential attribute is a fevered urgency, an almost desperate desire to suck the expressive marrow from a piece.”

At Duke Performances, Lisitsa plays a bountiful and melodic program that explores short-form works for piano. The first half is a retrospective of the ambitious Russian composer Alexander Scriabin, traversing decades of his career with Preludes, Études, and Poèmes. After intermission, Lisitsa takes on all twenty-four of the celebrated Chopin Études, a benchmark for Scriabin and countless other late nineteenth-century pianist-composers.

Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (1872-1915):
Prelude in B Major, op. 2, no. 2

24 Préludes op. 11:
No. 2 in A Minor
No. 4 in E Minor
No. 5 in D Major
No. 10 in C-sharp Major
No. 14 in E-flat Minor
No. 15 in D-flat Minor
No. 16 in B-flat Minor
No. 20 in C Minor

Quatre Préludes op. 22:
No.1 in G-sharp Minor

Deux Préludes op. 27:
No.1 in G Minor

Trois Préludes, op. 35:
No. 2 in D-flat Major

Poème, op. 41

Deux Danses, op. 73:
No. 2: Flammes sombres

Polonaise, op. 21

Poème tragique, op. 34

Poème satanique, op. 36

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849):
Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat Minor, op. 31

24 Études for Piano op. 10 & op. 25