Víkingur Ólafsson (born 14 February 1984) is an Icelandic pianist. He has performed with leading orchestras in Europe and America, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra,

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (GSO; sv, Göteborgs Symfoniker) is a Swedish symphony orchestra based in Gothenburg. The GSO is resident at the Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen. The orchestra received the title of the National Orc ...

, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra ( sv, Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester) is a Swedish radio orchestra based in Stockholm, affiliated with Sveriges Radio (Sweden's Radio). Its principal performing venue is the Berwaldhallen (Berwald Hall). The ...

, and with such conductors as

Thomas Adès Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès (born 1 March 1971) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: '' The Tempest'' (2004), '' ...

Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music di ...

, and

Santtu-Matias Rouvali Santtu-Matias Rouvali (born 5 November 1985) is a Finnish conductor and percussionist. He is currently chief conductor of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and principal conductor of the Philharmonia Or ...

. He has won numerous awards, including Album of the Year at the 2019 BBC Music Magazine Awards for ''Johann Sebastian Bach''. Víkingur's album '' Philip Glass Piano Works'' saw him named "Iceland's

Glenn Gould Glenn Herbert Gould (; né Gold; September 25, 1932October 4, 1982) was a Canadian classical pianist. He was one of the most famous and celebrated pianists of the 20th century, and was renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard works of Johann ...

" by the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', and a "breathtakingly brilliant pianist" by '' Gramophone''; ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' heralded his "volcanic temperament, great virtuosity, taste for challenges".

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 The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

in New York, earning bachelor's and master's degrees under the supervision of

Jerome Lowenthal Jerome Lowenthal (born February 11, 1932) is an American classical pianist. He has served as chair of the piano department at the Juilliard School in New York. Additionally, Lowenthal is on the faculty at Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbar ...

and Robert McDonald. He also took lessons with Ann Schein.

Career

In 2011, Víkingur was the soloist in the opening concert of

Harpa ''Harpa'', common name the "harp snails", is a genus of large predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Harpidae.Gofas, S.; Bouchet, P. (2015). Harpa Röding, 1798. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register ...

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

, playing

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...

's piano concerto with the

Iceland Symphony Orchestra Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands (Iceland Symphony Orchestra) (ISO) is an Icelandic orchestra based in Reykjavík, Iceland. Its primary concert venue is the Harpa Concert Hall. The Iceland Symphony is an autonomous public institution under the aus ...

under the baton of

Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (russian: Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. He ...

. In the 2019–20 season, Víkingur gave the French première of

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...

's '' Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?'' with the

Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France is a French radio orchestra, affiliated with Radio France. The orchestra performs principally at the auditorium of the Maison de la Radio in Paris, along with several concerts at the Philharmonie de Pa ...

and performed it with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, both with Adams conducting. In the same season, Víkingur was artist-in-residence at the

Konzerthaus Berlin The Konzerthaus Berlin is a concert hall in Berlin, the home of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Situated on the Gendarmenmarkt square in the central Mitte district of the city, it was originally built as a theater. It initially operated from ...

, with fourteen performances over eleven different projects, playing concertos by Adès, Robert Schumann,

Daníel Bjarnason Daníel Bjarnason (born 26 February 1979) is an Icelandic composer and conductor. He has garnered widespread acclaim for his debut album, ''Processions'' (2010), with TimeOut NY writing he "create(s) a sound that comes eerily close to defining ...

, and Mozart, two solo recitals, and chamber programmes with

Martin Fröst Martin Fröst (born 14 December 1970) is a Swedish clarinetist and conductor. He is principal conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. He is also a developer of multimedia projects with music, choreography and light design, in which he appea ...

and Florian Boesch. He has an exclusive recording contract with

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

. Víkingur has premiered six piano concertos by Icelandic composers—including ,

, Haukur Tómasson, and —as well as solo and chamber works by Atli Ingólfsson, Mark Simpson, and

Mark-Anthony Turnage Mark-Anthony Turnage CBE (born 10 June 1960) is a British composer of classical music. Biography Turnage was born in Corringham, Essex. He began composing at age nine and at fourteen began studying at the junior section of the Royal College of ...

. He has taken part in collaborative performances with Philip Glass (in Reykjavík, Gothenburg, and London) and Björk, the latter on the television programme ''Átta raddir'', produced by Jónas Sen for

RÚV Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) (pronounced or ) ( en, 'The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service') is Iceland's national public-service broadcasting organization. Operating from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional cent ...

, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service.

Recordings

Víkingur has released three albums on his own record label, Dirrindí: * 2009 – ''Debut'', featuring

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

's 7 Fantasies Op. 116 and 16 Waltzes as well as

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

Eroica Variations The Variations and Fugue for Piano in E major, Op. 35 are a set of fifteen variations (plus three "bonus" variations) for solo piano composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1802. They are commonly referred to as the ''Eroica Variations'' because a d ...

. * 2011 – ''Chopin-Bach'', featuring Chopin's preludes and two of

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...

's partitas. * 2012 – ''Winterreise'', featuring

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

Winterreise ''Winterreise'' (, ''Winter Journey'') is a song cycle for voice and piano by Franz Schubert ( D. 911, published as Op. 89 in 1828), a setting of 24 poems by German poet Wilhelm Müller. It is the second of Schubert's two song cycles on Müller' ...

with Icelandic operatic bass singer

Kristinn Sigmundsson Kristinn Sigmundsson (born 1 March 1951) is an Icelandic operatic bass. Sigmundsson earned a degree in biology from the University of Iceland. He then worked as a teacher before commencing music studies under Guðmundur Jónsson at the Reykjavi ...

(CD and DVD), which won Classical Album of the Year at the 2012

Icelandic Music Awards The Icelandic Music Awards ( is, Íslensku tónlistarverðlaunin) are the official annual music awards given in Iceland to commemorate the musical achievements of the year. The award was established in 1993 with an annual rock award given by the ...

In 2016, Víkingur signed an exclusive recording contract with

. * 2017 – ''Philip Glass – Piano Works'', featuring Philip Glass's ''Études'', "Opening" from ''Glassworks'', and a rework of ''Glassworks'' by Christian Badzura * 2018 – ''Johann Sebastian Bach'', featuring Bach's works for keyboard solo. The album won multiple awards, including BBC Music Magazine's Album of the Year * 2020 – ''Debussy • Rameau'' * 2021 – ''Reflections'' featuring Hania Rani, Balmorhea, and Hugar and Helgi Jonsson * 2021 – ''Mozart & Contemporaries'' * 2022 – ''From Afar'' Víkingur also recorded the soundtrack of '' Darkest Hour'', a film directed by

Joe Wright Joseph Wright (born 25 August 1972) is an English film director residing in Somerset, England. His motion pictures include the literary adaptations ''Pride & Prejudice'' (2005), ''Atonement'' (2007), ''Anna Karenina'' (2012), and '' Cyrano'' ( ...

, 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 Víkingur himself.

Awards

* 2019 –

Gramophone magazine ''Gramophone'' is a magazine published monthly in London, devoted to classical music, particularly to reviews of recordings. It was founded in 1923 by the Scottish author Compton Mackenzie who continued to edit the magazine until 1961. It was ac ...

Artist of the Year * 2019 – BBC Music Magazine Recording of the Year for ''Johann Sebastian Bach'' * 2019 – BBC Music Magazine Instrumental Album of the Year for ''Johann Sebastian Bach'' * 2019 – Opus Klassik Piano Recital Album of the Year for ''Johann Sebastian Bach'' * 2019 – Limelight Magazine International Artist of the Year * 2022 –

Rolf Schock Prize The Rolf Schock Prizes were established and endowed by bequest of philosopher and artist Rolf Schock (1933–1986). The prizes were first awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1993 and, since 2005, are awarded every three years. Each recipient current ...

in the Music category.

Broadcasting

Víkingur has hosted two television series about classical music. Broadcast on

, they were well received by critics. He has also written and hosted radio programmes for

Rás 1 Rás 1 (; ''Channel 1'') is an Icelandic radio station belonging to and operated by Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV), Iceland's national public service broadcaster. Broadcast throughout Iceland on FM (92.4 and 93.5 MHz in Reykjavík), via satellite ...

and BBC Radio 3.

Festivals

In 2012, Víkingur founded Reykjavík Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in

, Reykjavík. The festival won Musical Event of the Year at the 2012 Icelandic Music Awards, along with a special prize for innovation. In 2015, the pianist succeeded

as the artistic director of Sweden's Vinterfest. At the 2014 Transart Festival in Bolzano, Italy, Víkingur collaborated with Swiss artist

Roman Signer Roman Signer (born 1938 in Appenzell, Switzerland) is principally a visual artist who works in sculpture, art installations photography, and video. Early life and career Born in Appenzell, Switzerland, Signer started his career as an artist later i ...

in an event 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. For example, he reportedly associates F minor with blue, A major with yellow, and B major with purple.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Olafsson Vikingur Vikingur Olafsson Vikingur Olafsson Living people 1984 births Deutsche Grammophon artists 21st-century pianists Juilliard School alumni 21st-century classical pianists Icelandic classical musicians 21st-century Icelandic people