Víkingur Ólafsson

Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson is currently one of the most acclaimed and sought-after pianists in the world. The New York Times coined him ”Iceland's Glenn Gould”, and his recordings are showered with five-star reviews. This season, he is the Artist-in-Residence at Konserthuset Stockholm.

Last spring, he performed Bach’s Goldberg Variations to a full house at Konserthuset, and in the autumn he was the soloist in Brahms’s monumental First Piano Concerto. Now we welcome him back. This time, in a solo recital where he intersperses three piano sonatas by Beethoven with music by his great idol Johann Sebastian Bach and Franz Schubert.

This is a programme that begins in the Baroque and moves into the Romantic era, imbued throughout with lyrical depth and an intense inwardness that unites the works into a musical whole. All pieces also stay within the keys of E major or E minor.

Just a few days later, on 14 and 15 May, we hear him again – this time with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, performing more Beethoven: the Piano Concerto No. 5, the so-called Emperor Concerto.