Lights

Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has captured public and critical imagination to become one of the most sought-after artists of today. His recordings have led to over one billion streams and he has won numerous awards, including the 2025 Grammy for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for his recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BBC Music Magazine Album of the Year, and Opus Klassik Solo Recording of the Year (twice). Other notable honours include Rolf Schock Music Prize, Gramophone​’s Artist of the Year, and Musical America’s Instrumentalist of the Year, the Order of the Falcon (Iceland’s order of chivalry), as well as the Icelandic Export Award, given by the president of Iceland.

In a landmark move, Ólafsson devoted his entire 2023/24 season to a world tour of a single work: J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations, performing it 90 times to great critical acclaim. During his 2024/25 season, Ólafsson was Artist-in-Residence with Tonhalle Zürich and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, as well as Artist-in-Focus at Vienna Musikverein. He toured Europe with The Cleveland Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich; performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the BBC Proms; and returned to the New York Philharmonic. He joined forces with Yuja Wang for a highly anticipated two piano recital tour across Europe and North America and, in January 2025, gave the world premiere of John Adams’ After the Fall with San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, a piano concerto written especially for him. In spring 2025, Ólafsson performed his new piano recital, an exploration of Beethoven’s Opus 109, on multiple dates across the US and Europe.

Program

J.S. Bach – Prelude in E major BWV 854 (1722)- no fugue
L.v. Beethoven – Sonata in E minor Op 90 (1814)
J.S.Bach – Partita No 6 in E minor BWV 830 (1726) – including repeats
F. Schubert – Sonata in E minor D 566 (1817): Moderate; Allegretto
L.v. Beethoven – Sonata in E major Op 109 (1820)

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