Hahn at the Hall

All except stylistic purists should add ‘Lisitsa live in a Rachmaninov Concerto’ to their musical bucket list.

Sunday night is fiesta night, or so it seemed at the Barbican, where the London Symphony took us on a whirlwind tour from Seville in Andalucia to the Asturias. 

Whilst tonight's performance of Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony was polished and highly accomplished, it was Prokofiev's Piano Concerto no. 2 that really quickened our pulses.

Hot on the heels of this year’s Hollywood Rhapsody Prom came its less glamorous, perhaps geekier sibling, the Film Music Prom. There was less of the fanfare and opulence here; this was about the silver screen (and by that, I don’t mean the sort that is coming back into use for 3D films) and sci-fi.

With one week’s notice, Horacio Gutiérrez was indisposed and cancelled his much-anticipated piano recital at Toronto’s Koerner Hall. In his place, it was Valentina Lisitsa to the rescue, the sensational pianist who has now had over 50 million views on her YouTube channel, giving her the status of a rock star.

With more than 30 million YouTube channel views, there is simply no doubt that Valentina Lisitsa is already a classical music star to contend with.