Vikingur Ólafsson
Hayes Piano Series
Vikingur Ólafsson
Sat, Nov 19, 2 p.m.
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
Dubbed “Iceland’s Glenn Gould” by the New York Times for his ability to play “breathlessly fast [tempi]…with crispness and clarity and never [seeming] hard-pressed,” pianist Vikingur Ólafsson is distinguished not only by his keyboard prowess, but by his creative and probing approach to programming—as in this Hayes Piano Series recital, based on his lauded 2021 recording, Mozart & Contemporaries. As Deutsche Grammophon, Ólafsson’s recording label, aptly described the project: “Juxtaposing works by Mozart, Haydn, and C.P.E. Bach with rarely recorded Galuppi and Cimarosa, Mozart & Contemporaries dispels the image of Mozart as the angelic and prodigious idiot savant, instead presenting a mature composer:… a resourceful, hard-working adult who had come to know adversity.” Marveling at both the choice of works and the subtlety of their execution, Gramophone magazine, which earlier honored Ólafsson as its 2019 “Artist of the Year,” pronounced Mozart & Contemporaries “another winner from one of the most original musical minds around.”
This program will be performed without intermission.
This performance is an external rental presented in coordination with the Kennedy Center Campus Rentals Office and is not produced by the Kennedy Center.
Program Details
GALUPPI – Piano Sonata No. 9 in F minor, I. Andante spiritoso
MOZART – Rondo in F Major, K. 494
C.P.E. BACH – Rondo for Keyboard in D minor, Wq. 61/4
CIMAROSA (arr. Ólafsson) – Keyboard Sonata No. 42 in D minor
MOZART – Fantasie for Piano No. 3 in D minor, K. 397
MOZART – Rondo in D Major, K. 485
CIMAROSA (arr. Ólafsson) – Keyboard Sonata No. 55 in A minor
HAYDN – Sonata for Piano in B minor, No. 47, Hob XVI:32
MOZART – Kleine Gigue in G Major, K. 574
MOZART – Sonata for Piano No. 16 in C Major, K. 545
MOZART (arr. Ólafsson) – String Quintet No. 3 in G minor K. 516, III. Adagio
GALUPPI – Piano Sonata No. 34 in C minor, I. Larghetto
MOZART – Sonata for Piano No. 14 in C minor, K. 457
MOZART – Adagio for Piano in B minor, K. 540
MOZART (trans. Liszt) – Ave verum corpus, K. 618
Daily Telegraphy (UK)“The new superstar of classical piano”
Our Partners
This performance is made possible through the generous support of Susan S. Angell.
Washington Performing Arts’s classical music performances this season are made possible in part through the generous support of Betsy and Robert Feinberg.
Her Excellency Bergdís Ellertsdóttir, Ambassador of Iceland, is the honorary patron of this engagement.
This is one of twenty 2022/23 season performances included in Washington Performing Arts’s The World in Our City initiative, which promotes cross-cultural understanding and cultural diplomacy via the presentation of international visiting artists, globally inspired local programming, and the award-winning Embassy Adoption Program, a partnership with D.C. Public Schools.
Special thanks to the following lead supporters of Washington Performing Arts’s mission-driven work: Jacqueline Badger Mars and Mars, Incorporated; D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities; the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs Program and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; and the Dallas Morse Coors Foundation for the Performing Arts.
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