Víkingur Ólafsson
Ariane Levy-Künstler
Jasper Parrott
Isabella Thorneycroft
“breathtakingly brilliant pianist”
(Gramophone, March 2017)
Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has captured the public and critical imagination with profound musicianship and visionary programmes. One of the most sought-after artists of today, Ólafsson’s recordings for Deutsche Grammophon have led to almost one billion streams and garnered numerous awards, including 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, 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 88 times to great critical acclaim. The 2024/25 season will see Ólafsson as Artist-in-Residence with Tonhalle Zürich and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, as well as Artist-in-Focus at Vienna Musikverein. He will tour in Europe with The Cleveland Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, perform with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the BBC Proms and return to the New York Philharmonic. He joins forces with Yuja Wang for a highly anticipated two piano recital tour across Europe and North America and, in January 2025, will give 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 will perform his new piano recital, the last three sonatas of Beethoven on multiple dates across the US and Europe.
HarrisonParrott represents Víkingur Ólafsson for worldwide general management.
“Víkingur Ólafsson is revitalising classical music”
“The new superstar of classical piano”
“For this pianist, every album is an essay”
“Vikingur Ólafsson explored a fascinating sound cosmos in an amazingly unpretentious and effortless performance. Played with passion and yet gentleness, with breath-taking precision and unconditional devotion, creating an interpretation of lasting impact.”
“Olafssons hands are fast and powerful on the keys (think superfast, then add some more). His performance is earth-shaking and hypnotic, in short – he plays like a master.”
“There’s a quiet fearlessness to this album … Mr. Olafsson is a master of finding and exploiting unexpected pockets of musicality.”
“Víkingur Ólafsson’s latest album opens the door to new possibilities for the great composer’s music.”
“Bach at the keyboard has rarely sounded so fresh, expressive and joyous.”
“For Bach playing of a higher order, there is only one place to go: the recent album by Víkingur Ólafsson.”
“Ólafsson’s “inspired playing makes Bach more human than we’ve heard in a long time”
“After his equally successful Glass album, Víkingur confirms he’s one of the pianists to look out for”
“Ólafsson combines the fantasy of Maria João Pires and Martha Argerich with the contrapuntal élan of Piotr Anderszewski. But he is very much his own man.”
“Does he really deserve the epithet “Icelands Glenn Gould” that the New York Times gave him? The answer is yes, he proved as a time-bending soloist in Edvard Grieg’s piano concerto. This classic from the romantic period sounds in the wrong hands overblown and sentimental, but Ólafsson plays as if every tone matters”
“We came to hear the prodigious interpreter of Philip Glass, and discovered an explosive reader of J‑S Bach.…”
“Ólafsson’s ability to paint with a thousand colours is magnificent”
“Iceland’s Glenn Gould”
“In Mr. Olafsson’s hands, Mr. Glass’s music is sculptural”
“The recital was a complete show of mastery and virtuosity.” *****
“Like Gould, Ólafsson possesses that rare gift of illuminating a familiar work in unexpected ways, revealing hidden depths and drawing out its best qualities.….breathtakingly brilliant pianist.”
“Volcanic temperament, great virtuosity, a taste for challenges.”
“The celebrated shooting star Víkingur Ólafsson made his debut with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and excelled with his sensitive and extremely virtuosic playing.”
“With the world premiere of Haukur Tómasson’s second piano concerto, the 32-year-old had the high tones sparkling like water, which drifted from icicles in the sunlight… and bewitched the audience with precision playing of the highest order”
“Víkingur Ólafsson, for whom the work is written, possesses the authority, precision and clarity of contour required by the vertiginous solo part.”
“This is, frankly, one of the best single discs of Glass piano music I’ve ever heard, with a full spectrum of dynamics heard along with both personal utterances and works of true grandeur … This selection … by the 33-year old pianist from Iceland is quite stunning in its way. Everything about this selection – choice of repertoire, dynamic level, performance – is exquisite. This is Glass minimalism that even a hostile Ravel and Debussy-lover could love.”
“Volcanic temperament, great virtuosity, a taste for challenges.”
“Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has found the perfect blend of playful free spirit and technical finesse.”
“… Olafsson ruminative and fiercely attacking by turns (and his thumbs must be among the most elastic in the business), taking self-possessed ownership of a work which remains bitty, for all its thematic unity … Olafsson gave us a delightful encore in the shape of a miniature by Jean-Philippe Rameau.” *****
“few musicians match Olafsson for creative flair”
“Olafsson succeeded superbly in one of the best Belfast performances of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto in recent years.”
“The remarkable Vikingur Olafsson found sonic grandeur and excitement in Glass’ Étude No 6 and even more in No 14, which he ended in a stonking accelerando.”
“Best of the bunch was Icelandic pianist Vikingur Ólafsson. He played the blizzard of scales in Phillip Glass’ Etude No 13 with amazing virtuosity, and gave the still quietness of Etude No 5 a monumental, rapt intensity.”