Classical concerts featuring

Víkingur Ólafsson

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich / Víkingur Ólafsson / Paavo Järvi

Brahms times two is the motto this season for the exceptional Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson: after travelling around the world with Bach’s Goldberg Variations, this season he has taken on both of Johannes Brahms’ piano concertos – with different partners at his side. The opening concert with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in November will be followed in March by the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and the large-scale symphonic Second Piano Concerto. The orchestra brings Schumann’s »Rhenish« Symphony as a lively addition – a showpiece for the Swiss orchestra and its energetic chief conductor Paavo Järvi. You can hear in the cheerfully flowing sounds of this symphony the motivational boost that the move from Leipzig to Düsseldorf on the Rhine meant for the composer.

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich / Víkingur Ólafsson / Paavo Järvi

Since the Elbphilharmonie opened, Estonian star conductor Paavo Järvi has been one of its permanent guests, enchanting Hamburg audiences at several concerts a year. Now the conductor of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen again comes to the Grand Hall with his second top orchestra, the venerable Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. They will be joined by Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, who gave two brilliant renderings of Johann Sebastian Bach’s »Goldberg Variations« in Hamburg last season. On the programme is a new piano concerto by US composer John Adams, which was commissioned by the Elbphilharmonie among others. And the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich tackles two of the most famous modern orchestral pieces by György Ligeti and Witold Lutosławski, who skilfully combined folk music from Hungary and Poland with a thrilling orchestral sound in the 1950s.

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich / Paavo Järvi

With the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, its musical director the Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi, and the music of John Adams—which he sometimes performs alongside the composer—Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson is on friendly turf.

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich

Paradestücke: Mit Brahms' 2. Klavierkonzert zeigt sich Víkingur Ólafsson in dieser Saison als virtuoser Romantiker und Paavo Järvi geleitet sein Tonhalle-Orchester elegant durch die Stromschnellen in Schumanns »Rheinischer Sinfonie«.Inspiriert vom Kölner Dom? Gut vorstellbar, dass der frischgekürte Düsseldorfer Musikdirektor den überwältigenden Eindruck im feierlichen vierten Satz seiner »Rheinischen« Sinfonie verarbeitet hat. In jedem Fall ist in Schumanns ansonsten fröhlich dahinströmender Sinfonie deutlich der Motivationsschub zu spüren, den der Umzug an den Rhein ihm bescherte. Ein Paradestück für einen energiegeladenen Dirigenten wie Paavo Järvi. Und mit Víkingur Ólafsson steht ihm in der ersten Konzerthälfte der perfekte Solist zur Seite.​

Shani, Ólafsson · Adams, Bernstein

Shani, Ólafsson · Adams, Bernstein

Víkingur Ólafsson

Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson is currently one of the most acclaimed and sought-after pianists in the world. The New York Times coined him ”Iceland's Glenn Gould”, and his recordings are showered with five-star reviews. This season, he is the Artist-in-Residence at Konserthuset Stockholm.Following the success of Bach's Goldberg Variations, which he performed to a full house here at Konserthuset last season, he takes on another of classical music's great B's this season – Beethoven. At this solo recital, we hear Beethoven's late piano sonatas.Beethoven is never predictable, and in his final sonatas, he is reflective and melancholic, ecstatically passionate, humorous, and life-affirming; the music is like a whole life story. ”Beethoven's last three sonatas are a kind of testament”, says Víkingur Ólafsson.

Brahms' second piano concerto

Icelandic Víkingur Ólafsson is currently one of the world's most acclaimed and sought-after pianists. The New York Times coined him ”Iceland's Glenn Gould”, and his recordings are showered with five-star reviews. This season, he is the Artist-in-Residence at Konserthuset Stockholm.Following the success of Bach's Goldberg Variations, which he performed to a full house here at Konserthuset last season, he now takes on another of the classical music world's great B's – Brahms. He presents Beethoven's late piano sonatas in a solo recital a few days before this concert, and now Brahms with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.Brahms was at the height of his fame and ironically referred to composing a "tiny piano concerto" in letters. It is, of course, quite the opposite, with music brimming with drama, passion, and sincerity. Unlike his first, Brahms's second piano concerto was a success right from its premiere.French conductor Stéphane Denève also leads the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in American Stacy Garrop's beautiful Penelope Waits from 2013, inspired by Greek mythology, and mythological music with dance themes by Paul Dukas and Richard Strauss.

Brahms' second piano concerto

Icelandic Víkingur Ólafsson is currently one of the world's most acclaimed and sought-after pianists. The New York Times coined him ”Iceland's Glenn Gould”, and his recordings are showered with five-star reviews. This season, he is the Artist-in-Residence at Konserthuset Stockholm.Following the success of Bach's Goldberg Variations, which he performed to a full house here at Konserthuset last season, he now takes on another of the classical music world's great B's – Brahms. He presents Beethoven's late piano sonatas in a solo recital a few days before this concert, and now Brahms with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.Brahms was at the height of his fame and ironically referred to composing a "tiny piano concerto" in letters. It is, of course, quite the opposite, with music brimming with drama, passion, and sincerity. Unlike his first, Brahms's second piano concerto was a success right from its premiere.French conductor Stéphane Denève also leads the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in American Stacy Garrop's beautiful Penelope Waits from 2013, inspired by Greek mythology, and mythological music with dance themes by Paul Dukas and Richard Strauss.