Víkingur Ólafsson

Born in Reykjavík in 1984, the Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson was taught at an early age by his mother, a piano teacher, and subsequently continued his training in his native country with Erla Stefánsdóttir and Péter Máté. He was a student of Robert McDonald and Jerome Lowenthal at the Juilliard School in New York. Víkingur Ólafsson has collaborated with numerous contemporary composers ever since he launched his career, including Philip Glass, whose piano works appear on an album he released in 2017. This project marked the beginning of his collaboration with Deutsche Grammophon, on which he has released recordings including a Debussy-Rameau album as well as Mozart & Contemporaries and From Afar. His most recent release is Opus 109, which combines Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op. 109 with works by Bach and Schubert; he will also perform this program at the Pulse Festival. In the 2023–24 season, he focused exclusively on Bach’s Goldberg Variations, performing the work in many cities around the world. His recording of the work received both a Grammy Award and an Opus Klassik. In the 2025-26 season, Víkingur Ólafsson opened the Philharmonia Orchestra’s season in London and has undertaken a U.S. tour as Featured Artist with the ensemble. He returns to the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Czech Philharmonic and reunites with John Adams and the Los Angeles Philharmonic to perform After the Fall, a piano concerto Adams has written for him, with the composer conducting. He is also taking part in the celebrations marking György Kurtág’s 100th birthday and serves as artist-in-residence with Cal Performances in Berkeley, California, and at Müpa Budapest. Víkingur Ólafsson has been awarded the Rolf Schock Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts and the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal, the Order of the Falcon – Iceland’s highest civilian honor – the Icelandic Export Award, and the Nordic Council Music Prize. He was named Artist of the Year by Gramophone in 2019 and by Musical America in 2025.

Lucerne Festival debut on 23 November 2019 with a recital that encompassed works by Bach and Beethoven.

November 2025