Valentina Lisitsa, the pianist whose artistry became known to a huge international audience thanks to YouTube (where she now has over 650,000 followers) and who since recorded for Decca, has signed a three-year contact with naïve, part of the Paris-based company, Believe.

Projects will include Rachmaninov’s complete solo piano works, Beethoven’s complete piano sonatas, and albums dedicated to Chopin, Scriabin, Schumann, Ravel and more. The first project, a collection of Scriabin’s preludes and shorter works, was released for streaming and download last month.

Lisitsa’s production company, Queen of Rachmaninov (QOR), is, she says, ‘an “audiophile” label drawing the inspiration from the Golden Age of pianism and following in footsteps of the musicians who inspired and influenced me - Hofmann, Rachmaninov, Sofronitsky, Schnabel, Backhaus - while taking the advantage of the best recording equipment available today. The naïve team and I are speaking the same language and I am very excited about this new partnership!’

Pierre-Antoine Devic, Head of naïve classique, said: 'Valentina has a very special status in the international music world. For naïve and for Believe, this new signing marks a major step in our rapid development in the classical music genre. We are thrilled to welcome you into the naïve family, Valentina!’ while Romain Vivien, Managing Director of Believe, added, ‘This new partnership between Valentina Lisitsa and naïve perfectly matches Believe’s mission: providing artists and producers with the best expertise and commitment at every step of their creative and go-to-market processes, with fairness and transparency, in a fast-changing and digitally oriented music world. I know Valentina and naïve can reach great successes together!’