Actually Valentina gave a very in-depth summary of her life in an hour long interview on that site (the video is only a very short snippet, the audio-only file is more complete). Very interesting and entertaining listening which can be found here:
http://sinfinimusic.com/uk/listen/2013/06/valentina-lisitsa-interview/Highly recommended if you are a fan or just curious about the person behind the "phenomenon".
I particularly liked the insight about how, for her, pieces for the soviet style competitions were just like "work" back then, but musicality was reserved for other non-competitive pieces. There is the fact that she has had to play pieces like La Campanella for those competitions since back decades ago now, so much so that she says she can play it pretty much upside down in her sleep, so it is no surprise she can just reel it off anytime.
The other thing I found interesting was the fact that she was not really influenced by more famous pianists like Horowitz. She likes to say that she studies with "dead people", for example, recordings by Rachmaninov. One anecdote was that one of her earlier teachers would bring in 3 recordings of Rach's Prelude in G minor, played by Richter, Rachmaninov and Rubinstein, and get the class to identify which was which. I wish I could do that to heavily biased punters who like to trash pianists they look down on (usually in an effort to make them seem like they have a "superior" sense of taste)... I bet a substantial portion of them won't pass that double blind test.
She also talks about Youtube and her experiments with allowing the audience to vote on what she should play, to basically involve the audience, and entice the younger generation for the benefit of the future of the art.
I recently attended Lisitsa's recital, and while there were some things not to my taste (and taste is a purely subjective, and changeable, thing), it was still a very impressive performance. Her technique is incredible and probably allows her to rush some things a bit too much because it is so effortless for her. But the standout thing for me was her warmth. She actually stood, mic in hand, and addressed the audience for a good 20 mins before the recital, and gave a few entertaining anecdotes about her life and some interesting yet obscure facts about the pieces she was about to play. This was very effective at breaking the ice and endearing herself to the audience and making everyone more receptive to just enjoying the recital. I wish more performers were as accessible as her, which would make classical piano music reach a much wider audience instead of the snooty attitudes which put people off.
