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ConcertsRosen House Concert SeriesMusic RoomChamber Music / Recitals
Overview
Step into a world of musical discovery with Víkingur Ólafsson, the acclaimed Icelandic pianist whose rare blend of technical mastery and poetic sensitivity has captivated audiences around the globe. Hailed for his visionary artistry, Ólafsson has amassed over one billion streams and earned some of the highest accolades in classical music, including the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for his Goldberg Variations, BBC Music Magazine’s Album of the Year, and two Opus Klassik Awards for Solo Recording of the Year. He has also been named Gramophone’s Artist of the Year, Musical America’s Instrumentalist of the Year, and received the prestigious Icelandic Export Award, presented by the President of Iceland. Ólafsson’s Caramoor recital is an exploration of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in E major, Op. 109, which he contextualizes with the same composer’s E minor sonata, Op. 90, and works in both keys by Bach and Schubert.
Special thanks to Armando Gutierrez and Jack Johnson for their support of this concert.
Program
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I: Prelude in E Major, BWV 854
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 27 in E Minor, Op. 90
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: Partita No. 6 in E Minor, BWV 830
FRANZ SCHUBERT: Moderato and Allegro from Piano Sonata in E Minor, D. 566
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109
About the Artist
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 honors 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. The 2024-25 season saw Ólafsson as Artist-in-Residence with Tonhalle Zürich and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, as well as Artist-in-Focus at Vienna Musikverein. He toured in 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.
To learn more about Víkingur Ólafsson, visit his website.
