Víkingur Ólafsson: Online Concert Programme | Tue 8 April 2025
- Extended Concert Programme
Bristol Beacon presents
Víkingur Ólafsson
Tue 8 April 2025, 7.30pm
This evening’s performance:
Víkingur Ólafsson Piano
J.S. Bach Goldberg Variations BWV 988
Welcome
It is an honour for us to welcome the world-renowned and critically acclaimed Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson to Bristol Beacon. This is a very special concert and the story behind what you will hear tonight dates from well before we opened the doors to our transformed Beacon Hall.
In December 2022, a small group led by former Chief Executive Louise Mitchell met in Hamburg to select the new Steinway piano for Beacon Hall, assisted by Víkingur Ólafsson. On a tour of the historic Steinway factory, they learnt about the pianos, each one made from seasoned Alaskan spruce and built by hand by incredibly skilled and dedicated craftspeople.
Every piano case goes in the same press that has been used since they began constructing in Hamburg, with much of the building being done by eye and ear based on the feel of the piano rather than precise measurements. Once built, the pianos are tested by playing 10,000 notes before being revoiced by ear.
Every Steinway piano is unique and Víkingur selected several pianos for the group to hear each different sound. Despite not knowing at that point what the acoustic in the transformed Beacon Hall would be like, Víkingur recommended the piano you see before you tonight. He felt that its reverberation in particular would be well suited for the size and shape of Beacon Hall – and I’m sure that you will agree that he was right!
Please enjoy the concert and thank you for your continued support of our season of world-class classical music.
With best wishes,
Simon Wales
Chief Executive, Bristol Beacon
Víkingur Ólafsson
Piano
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 honours 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 will see Ólafsson as Artist-in-Residence with Tonhalle Zürich and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, as well as Artist-in-Focus at Vienna Musikverein. He will tour in Europe with The Cleveland Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, perform with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the BBC Proms and return to the New York Philharmonic. He joins forces with Yuja Wang for a highly anticipated two piano recital tour across Europe and North America and, in January 2025, will give the world premiere of John Adams’ After the Fall with San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, a piano concerto written especially for him.