Víkingur Ólafsson


Víkingur Ólafsson is an Icelandic pianist.
He has performed with leading orchestras in Europe and America, including Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and with conductors including Thomas Adès, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Santtu-Matias Rouvali. He has won numerous awards for his playing, including Album of the Year at the 2019 BBC Music Magazine Awards for his ground-breaking album Johann Sebastian Bach.
Víkingur's album Philip Glass Piano Works saw him named “Iceland’s Glenn Gould” by the New York Times, "breathtakingly brilliant pianist" by Gramophone magazine, and Le Monde herald his "volcanic temperament, great virtuosity, taste for challenges."
Víkingur was the soloist in the opening concert of Harpa in Reykjavík, playing Edvard Grieg's A-minor piano concerto with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy.
In the 2019-20 season Víkingur will be artist-in-residence at Berlin Konzerthaus, with fourteen performances over eleven different projects, playing concertos by Thomas Adès, Robert Schumann, Daníel Bjarnason and Mozart, two solo recitals and chamber programmes with the likes of Martin Fröst and Florian Boesch.
He has an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon.

Early life and education

Víkingur Ólafsson grew up in Reykjavík and started playing the piano at an early age under the tutelage of his mother, a piano teacher. He studied at the Juilliard School in New York, earning Bachelor's and Master's degrees under the supervision of Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald. Víkingur also took lessons with Ann Schein.

Career

Víkingur has given recitals across Japan, the USA and in European halls including the Berlin Philharmonie, London's Royal Albert Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, Palau de la Música in Barcelona, and Flagey in Brussels.
In the 2019-20 season, Víkingur will give the French première of John Adams’ Piano Concerto No.2 with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and will perform the work with Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra – both with Adams conducting. He will also give concerts with Hallé Orchestra and Klaus Makela, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and Jaap van Zweden, Berlin Konzerthausorchester and Christoph Eschenbach, San Diego Symphony with Rafael Payare, Bergen International Festival with Ed Gardner and Iceland Symphony Orchestra with Daníel Bjarnason.
He will be artist in residence at Berlin Konzerthaus and will give solo recitals at Vienna Konzerthaus, Lucerne Festival, Gothenburg Concert Hall and across Japan for a recital tour.
Víkingur has premiered six piano concertos by Icelandic composers—, Daníel Bjarnason, Haukur Tómasson, and among them—as well as solo and chamber works by Atli Ingólfsson, Mark Simpson and Mark-Anthony Turnage. Víkingur has taken part in collaborative performances with Philip Glass and Björk, the latter taking place on the television programme Átta raddir, produced by Jónas Sen for RÚV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service.

Recordings

Víkingur released three albums on his own record label, Dirrindí:
In 2016, Víkingur signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon.
Víkingur also recorded the soundtrack of Darkest Hour, the film directed by Joe Wright and released Bach Reworks featuring six 'remixed' works by J.S.Bach, from the likes of Ben Frost, Peter Gregson, Valgeir Sigurðsson as well as by Víkingur himself.

Awards

Víkingur has been awarded:
Víkingur has hosted two television series about classical music. Broadcast on RÚV, they were well received by critics. He has also written and hosted radio programmes for Rás 1.

Festivals

In 2012, Víkingur founded Reykjavík Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Harpa, Reykjavík. The festival was awarded the Musical Event of the Year award at the Icelandic Music Awards in 2012, along with a special prize for innovation. In 2015, Víkingur succeeded Martin Fröst as the artistic director of Vinterfest in Sweden.
At the 2014 Transart Festival in Bolzano, Italy, Víkingur collaborated with Swiss artist Roman Signer in a happening titled Vers la Flamme – Ein Konzert mit Störung. Víkingur performed Alexander Scriabin's Vers la flamme on a floating stage on Lake Vernago with a helicopter hovering over him.

Personal life

Víkingur has both absolute pitch and synesthesia, whereby he associates keys with colors. He reportedly associates F-minor with blue, A-major with yellow, and B-major with purple as a few examples.