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Víkingur Ólafsson’s CONTINUUM II available to pre-order now

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Víkingur Ólafsson: Continuum II

Continuum II

CONTINUUM II Víkingur Ólafsson

“Bach was writing for all of us, for the future”Víkingur Ólafsson Album release: 6 November 2026 Víkingur Ólafsson releases the Largo from Bach’s

VikingurÓlafsson_Opus109@AriMagg_220525-_0364 (1).jpg

&ldquo;Bach was writing for all of us, for the future&rdquo; V&iacute;kingur &Oacute;lafsson
Album release: 6 November 2026
V&iacute;kingur &Oacute;lafsson&nbsp;releases the Largo from Bach&rsquo;s Keyboard Concerto in F&nbsp;minor&nbsp;today,&nbsp;11 September, as&nbsp;pre-orders open&nbsp;for his new album&nbsp;CONTINUUM&nbsp;II, out on&nbsp;Deutsche Grammophon&nbsp;in all formats on&nbsp;6&nbsp;November 2026. Part of &Oacute;lafsson&rsquo;s&nbsp;ongoing J.S. Bach project, it is the first album he has recorded entirely in&nbsp;The Nutshell, his new home studio in Iceland. The Largo is one of two works the artist has arranged for piano and strings and for which he is joined by the&nbsp;Siggi String Quartet&nbsp;and bassist&nbsp;Xun Yang.
&Oacute;lafsson calls&nbsp;CONTINUUM II&nbsp;his first &ldquo;album domesticum&rdquo; &ndash; a record of music for the home, intimate and reflective, showing&nbsp;Bach at his most personal. At its heart are six chorales, among them&nbsp;Wie sch&ouml;n leuchtet der Morgenstern&nbsp;and&nbsp;Es ist genug, and six of the short preludes Bach wrote as practice pieces for his pupils. Alongside them are his own arrangements of the organ chorale prelude&nbsp;Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott, the Adagio from the Violin Sonata No. 5 in F minor (also for piano and strings), and the Air on the G String, heard in both grand and upright piano versions.
Two further tracks will be released ahead of the album: the Prelude in D major on&nbsp;2 October&nbsp;and&nbsp;Nun ruhen alle W&auml;lder&nbsp;on&nbsp;23 October.
Pre-order the CD and vinyl editions in the <a href="https://store.deutschegrammophon.com/collections/vikingur-olafsson">DG Store</a>

Víkingur Ólafsson launches CONTINUUM II, a new album of music  by J.S. Bach

First single &ndash; &Oacute;lafsson&rsquo;s arrangement of the Air on the G String &ndash; released 17 July: watch&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHmXD2jc3QU">here</a>&nbsp;/ stream&nbsp;<a href="https://dg.lnk.to/Continuum2">here</a>
Album released on Deutsche Grammophon: 6 November 2026
For more than thirty years,&nbsp;V&iacute;kingur &Oacute;lafsson&nbsp;has played a little Bach every day. &ldquo;Bach has become my diary,&rdquo; says the pianist. &ldquo;Playing his music is the one constant in my life.&rdquo; That lifelong conversation continues with&nbsp;CONTINUUM&nbsp;II, the second instalment of his acclaimed&nbsp;CONTINUUM&nbsp;project and the first album to be recorded entirely in his new Icelandic home studio,&nbsp;The Nutshell. Bringing together original keyboard works alongside new arrangements and transcriptions,&nbsp;CONTINUUM&nbsp;II&nbsp;will be released by&nbsp;Deutsche Grammophon&nbsp;digitally, on CD and vinyl on 6&nbsp;November 2026. The first single &ndash; &Oacute;lafsson&rsquo;s own arrangement of Bach&rsquo;s Air on the G&nbsp;String (grand piano version) &ndash; is released on&nbsp;17&nbsp;July, followed by the Larghetto from the Keyboard Concerto No.&nbsp;1 in D&nbsp;major, BWV&nbsp;972 (after Vivaldi), on&nbsp;14 August.
&Oacute;lafsson comments: &ldquo;I have never had the stamina to keep a journal for longer than a few weeks. But for over thirty years, I have played a little Bach on the piano every day. It is the one constant factor in my life, no matter what else is going on. Playing his music is a way of putting your particular experience into context with the universal. Even your location in time and space becomes a little trivial. Bach wrote some of his greatest works for a very small audience in a time when he was considered behind the times, a man of the past. As we know now, it turns out he was writing for all of us, for the future. When I play Bach, I am reminded that historical eras in music are notions we superimpose on what is essentially a continuum: an unbroken thread linking us all, a running stream flowing through us &ndash; what the Germans, incidentally, call a&nbsp;Bach. This recording project is called&nbsp;Continuum. It is my personal Bach journal, an ongoing conversation with his music and a tribute to his art.&rdquo;
&Oacute;lafsson released the first volume of&nbsp;CONTINUUM&nbsp;in October 2024 and, since then, has won his first GRAMMY Award&reg; for his recording of Bach&rsquo;s&nbsp;Goldberg Variations, surpassed one billion streams worldwide &ndash; half of them from Bach repertoire &ndash; and built The Nutshell: a teak-walled, fully remote recording studio beneath his home in Iceland.
On turning forty, &Oacute;lafsson began thinking about what he wanted the next decade of his life to look like. One answer was the freedom to record with complete spontaneity. &ldquo;If the urge strikes,&rdquo; he explains, &ldquo;I can simply wander downstairs late at night in my pyjamas, press a couple of buttons, and start recording.&rdquo;
That spirit shapes&nbsp;CONTINUUM&nbsp;II. As his first true &ldquo;album domesticum&rdquo;, it centres on music associated with the home: intimate, reflective works that reveal Bach at his most personal. At its heart are six chorales that &Oacute;lafsson plays on the piano, including&nbsp;Wie sch&ouml;n leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 436;&nbsp;Welt, ade!, BWV 27/VI; and&nbsp;Es ist genug, BWV 60/V.
&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t come across them recorded on the piano,&rdquo; he notes. &ldquo;But to me they seem newly revealed in that medium. I particularly love how they sound in the fragile sonority of the upright piano.&rdquo;
It was producer Christopher Tarnow who suggested including an arrangement of the early organ chorale prelude&nbsp;Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott. &ldquo;I have to admit I had never heard this work before. Bach wrote it when he was around twenty years old, and the first time I played it I immediately realised it was the kind of music that stays with you for the rest of your life. Its desolate beauty, its impossibly unpredictable harmonic progression, its&nbsp;lamentoso&nbsp;spirit that almost feels like a nineteenth-century lied&hellip; We don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s around the next corner, but we want Bach to hold our hand and take us there. It is the sort of work I never want to end once I begin playing it.&rdquo;
For the album, &Oacute;lafsson recorded both grand and upright piano versions of his own arrangement of Bach&rsquo;s Air from the Orchestral Suite No.&nbsp;3, better known as the Air on the G&nbsp;String. He dedicated the score to Gy&ouml;rgy Kurt&aacute;g as a gift for the composer&rsquo;s 100th birthday earlier this year.
The programme also includes the Largo from the Keyboard Concerto No.&nbsp;5 in F&nbsp;minor; &Oacute;lafsson&rsquo;s arrangement of the Adagio from the Violin Sonata No.5 in F&nbsp;minor for piano, string quartet and double bass, performed with the Siggi String Quartet and bassist Xun Yang; and the Larghetto from the Keyboard Concerto No.&nbsp;1 in D&nbsp;major, arranged by Bach himself from a Vivaldi original.
Completing the programme &ndash; and encapsulating the intimate, domestic spirit of CONTINUUM II &ndash; are six of the short preludes Bach wrote as practice pieces for his pupils, including his own children. Their brevity, &Oacute;lafsson suggests, conceals remarkable depth.
&ldquo;Each is an inspired miniature, a complete musical world in itself. Recorded here on the grand piano, they remind me that some of Bach&rsquo;s most profound thoughts are also among his most compact.&rdquo;
The artist&rsquo;s acclaimed collaboration with Olafur Eliasson &ndash; his performance of Bach&rsquo;s&nbsp;Goldberg Variations&nbsp;at Lucerne Festival PULSE, accompanied by Eliasson&rsquo;s immersive real-time light installation &ndash; will&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stage-plus.com/video/live_concert_9HKNCPA3DTN66PBIEHFJ2CPH6C">stream worldwide on STAGE+</a>&nbsp;from 18 July.
Other forthcoming highlights include Bach, Beethoven and Schubert recitals at the Edinburgh International Festival (22 August) and three at London&rsquo;s Wigmore Hall (10-12 September); a European tour of Beethoven&rsquo;s Piano Concerto No. 5 with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Santtu-Matias Rouvali taking in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Lucerne Festival, Grafenegg Festival and Philharmonie de Paris (26 August-3 September); the world premiere of Mark Simpson&rsquo;s Piano Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Edward Gardner at London&rsquo;s Royal Festival Hall (23 October); a recital tour of South Korea, China and Taiwan in October and November, as well as Brahms&rsquo;s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko in Baden-Baden (4 December).

“Orbiting Around Opus 109” – Víkingur Ólafsson  Explores a Late Masterpiece by Beethoven for his Latest Album

The Icelandic pianist creates a dialogue across the centuries in a solo programme around Beethoven&rsquo;s Piano Sonata No. 30, Op.&nbsp;109 
He reveals the influences that run between J.S. Bach, Beethoven and Schubert
&nbsp;
Deutsche Grammophon and Icelandic pianist V&iacute;kingur &Oacute;lafsson present his anticipated new album: Opus 109 &ndash; Beethoven &middot; Bach &middot; Schubert. At its heart is Beethoven&rsquo;s Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op.&nbsp;109 &ndash; a masterpiece of the composer&rsquo;s late period &ndash; which &Oacute;lafsson places in an illuminating and thrilling temporal dialogue, tracing the musical and historical lineages that converge on this beacon of the piano literature. Known for his inspired programming, &Oacute;lafsson juxtaposes the work with music by J.S. Bach and Schubert, as well as Beethoven&rsquo;s own earlier Sonata in E&nbsp;minor, Op.&nbsp;90. Opus&nbsp;109 will be released in all formats on 21&nbsp;November 2025.
After the global success of &Oacute;lafsson&rsquo;s Goldberg Variations project, the influence of Bach&rsquo;s polyphonic writing on Beethoven&rsquo;s final sonatas made an exciting starting-point for the pianist&rsquo;s next project. &Oacute;lafsson explains: &ldquo;As I started researching my next project, I was immediately drawn to a set of works where I felt the presence of J.S. Bach&rsquo;s Goldberg Variations in the most inspiring way: the last three sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven, Opp.&nbsp;109, 110 and 111. After a few days in my studio, I decided against the time-tested method of recording these three great final sonatas together and releasing them as one album. There are some great recordings of the &lsquo;three sisters&rsquo; in the catalogue, but I felt that playing &ndash;&nbsp;and listening to &ndash; all three in succession would not necessarily be the most illuminating way of approaching them at this point in time. Placing just one firmly at the gravitational centre of a programme, conversely, would allow me the joy of travelling in its orbit, discovering new perspectives on it, whilst also encountering other works within its realm.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Two Beethoven sonatas, Op.&nbsp;109 and Op.&nbsp;90, plus Schubert&rsquo;s Sonata in E minor, D.&nbsp;566, form the conceptual spine of the programme. &ldquo;But both composers face Bach&rdquo; &mdash; as, in &Oacute;lafsson&rsquo;s view, every great composer must. Bach&rsquo;s influence on Beethoven is nowhere as apparent as in his final sonatas, whose wild originality is fuelled by the Bachian polyphony. &Oacute;lafsson feels Op.&nbsp;109, with its theme-and-variations finale, pays particular homage to the Goldberg Variations: &ldquo;Bach was the compass on Beethoven&rsquo;s journey into the unknown.&rdquo;&nbsp;The presence of Bach is further explored through &Oacute;lafsson&rsquo;s recording of the final, monumental Partita, No.&nbsp;6 in E minor, a work that shares with Beethoven&rsquo;s Op.&nbsp;109 both its formal inventiveness and its emotional force. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s worth noting how Bach, too, is testing and transcending the limits of his chosen compositional form in his final Partita.&rdquo;
Meanwhile, &Oacute;lafsson considers Beethoven&rsquo;s own two-movement Sonata in E minor, Op.&nbsp;90 a vital precursor to Op.&nbsp;109, with its intimate, fleeting first movement and warm, sonorous second movement &ndash;&nbsp;while making the case that this sonata had a tremendous influence on a young Franz Schubert. Presenting this sonata alongside an overlooked gem of Schubert&rsquo;s early period, his two-movement Sonata in E minor, D.&nbsp;566, &Oacute;lafsson argues that the work, written by the 20-year-old composer, was a direct response to Beethoven&rsquo;s Op. 90 and not, as has been generally assumed, an unfinished fragment.&nbsp;&ldquo;To me, it feels like a sister or a brother piece to Beethoven&rsquo;s,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing unfinished about it.&rdquo;
The album begins and ends with brief benedictions by J.S. Bach, opening with his Prelude in E major from The Well-Tempered Clavier and closing with a Sarabande from his French Suite in E major.&nbsp; The whole album is thus in the key of E, major and minor modes, which for &Oacute;lafsson, who has synaesthesia, makes it full of lush and vibrant shades of green.
Opus 109 &ndash; Beethoven &middot; Bach &middot; Schubert follows on from 2023&rsquo;s Goldberg Variations, which earned &Oacute;lafsson a GRAMMY Award&reg;, the title of Musical America&rsquo;s Instrumentalist of the Year, the OPUS KLASSIK Bestseller award and the German Record Critics&rsquo; Annual Award, as well as helping him hit the milestone of one billion streams in November 2024. The unanimous critical acclaim that greeted the album was echoed in the reviews of &Oacute;lafsson&rsquo;s season-long global tour which saw him perform the work 90 times.
V&iacute;kingur &Oacute;lafsson performs Opus 109 throughout the season, including on a German tour in November 2025 and in several dates across North America. He opens the London season and tours the US &ndash; performing Beethoven&rsquo;s Piano Concertos Nos. 3 and 5 &ndash; with the Philharmonia Orchestra, with whom he is Featured Artist, while he makes his return to the Berliner Philharmoniker, with Semyon Bychkov,&nbsp;and the Czech Philharmonic, with Sir Antonio Pappano. He also reunites with John Adams and the Los Angeles Philharmonic for performances of&nbsp;After the Fall, the piano concerto written expressly for him. &Oacute;lafsson will mark the Gy&ouml;rgy Kurt&aacute;g centenary celebrations in 2026 and appear as artist in residence at Cal Performances in Berkeley, California and at MUPA, Budapest.
Forthcoming &ldquo;OPUS 109&rdquo; recitals:
11/12 Sep &ndash; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humleb&aelig;k &middot; 14 Sep &ndash; Oslo Opera House 26 Sep &ndash; Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden &middot; 22 Oct &ndash; University of Santa Barbara &middot; 9 Nov &ndash; Tonhalle, D&uuml;sseldorf 11 Nov &ndash; Alte Oper, Frankfurt &middot; 12 Nov &ndash; Die Glocke, Bremen &middot; 13 Nov &ndash; Laeiszhalle, Hamburg 15 Nov &ndash; Kulturpalast, Dresden &middot; 16 Nov &ndash; NDR Konzerthaus, Hanover &middot; 17 Nov &ndash; Philharmonie, Berlin 18 Nov &ndash; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg &middot; 1 Dec &ndash; M&uuml;pa, Budapest &middot; 2 Dec &ndash; Konzerthaus, Vienna &middot; 5 Dec &ndash; Tonhalle, Z&uuml;rich 6 Dec &ndash; Victoria Hall, Geneva &middot; 8 Dec &ndash; Isarphilharmonie, Munich &middot; 9 Dec &ndash; Meistersingerhalle, Nuremberg
Full touring details <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/artists/vikingur-olafsson/on-tour">here</a>
&nbsp;

Víkingur Ólafsson Wins his first GRAMMY®

Deutsche Grammophon Recordings Win Three&nbsp; GRAMMY Awards&reg;
Kaija Saariaho&rsquo;s Memory Is Honoured with&nbsp; GRAMMY Award&reg;
&nbsp;
3 February 2025 - The 67th GRAMMY Awards&reg; ceremony was held yesterday at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The GRAMMY&reg;, which recognises both artistic and technical achievement, is the recording industry&rsquo;s most prestigious prize. Deutsche Grammophon - the classical label with most nominations - albums were presented with three awards last night: pianist V&iacute;kingur &Oacute;lafsson&rsquo;s reading of Bach&rsquo;s Goldberg Variations won in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category; Kaija Saariaho&rsquo;s Adriana Mater won Best Opera Recording; and Maestro: Music by Leonard Bernstein, recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, Yannick N&eacute;zet-S&eacute;guin and Bradley Cooper, was named Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media (Includes Film and Television).
First-time GRAMMY&reg; nominee V&iacute;kingur &Oacute;lafsson had dreamed of recording J.S. Bach&rsquo;s monumental Goldberg Variations for 25 years before the time felt right to him to go into the studio. The Icelandic pianist then devoted the entire 2023-24 season to a six-continent tour of the work.&nbsp; On its release, his album was met with widespread critical acclaim, with The Sunday Times noting, &ldquo;In [&Oacute;lafsson&rsquo;s] hands, Bach&rsquo;s progression through aria and 30 variations becomes a metaphor for human experience. Personal yet universal, faithful yet radical, technically scintillating and emotionally uplifting, it&rsquo;s a journey to the centre of the soul&rdquo;. &Oacute;lafsson said, &ldquo;Last season I performed the Goldberg Variations almost a hundred times all over the world. I got to know myself through that process and I got to witness the unique power of Bach&rsquo;s message on people of different cultures. It was a life-changing experience for which I will always be grateful. Winning a Grammy for my album of the Goldbergs is something very special which I can&rsquo;t quite put into words. I am indebted to so many people, my incredible teams at Deutsche Grammophon and HarrisonParrott, my producer Christopher Tarnow, executive producer Christian Badzura, and - most importantly - my listeners who given so much to me with their ongoing support and open ears."
The late&nbsp;Kaija Saariaho&rsquo;s much-admired second opera, Adriana Mater, was recorded at Davies Symphony Hall in June 2023, just days after its composer&rsquo;s untimely passing. In its review, the New York Times wrote, &ldquo;Saariaho&rsquo;s delicately consoling music stares down the worst of the world and says: the only way forward is grace.&rdquo; Directed by Peter Sellars, the world premiere recording features the San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Symphony Chorus, with soloists Fleur Barron, Axelle Fanyo, Nicholas Phan and Christopher Purves. It is conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.
The DG soundtrack to the Netflix film Maestro &ndash; directed, written, produced by and starring Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein &ndash; captures the kaleidoscopic and timeless brilliance of Bernstein&rsquo;s music. The new recordings on the album were made by the London Symphony Orchestra and Yannick N&eacute;zet-S&eacute;guin, who also worked closely with Cooper as conducting consultant, notably on location at Ely Cathedral for a magical reenactment of Bernstein&rsquo;s famous recording of Mahler&rsquo;s &ldquo;Resurrection&rdquo; Symphony. N&eacute;zet-S&eacute;guin says, &ldquo;Bradley and I are so honored to bring Lenny&rsquo;s legacy to even more audiences through this soundtrack. We were faithful to his legacy, and while we re-recorded all of his music with the incredible London Symphony Orchestra, we tried to inhabit interpretations of these great works as Lenny would if he were still here today. We share this award with all the artists that help make this album possible."
&ldquo;Congratulations, dear V&iacute;kingur, on your first Grammy win!&rdquo; felicitates Frank Briegmann, Chairman &amp; CEO Universal Music Central Europe and Deutsche Grammophon. &ldquo;With his exceptional reading of Bach's Goldberg Variations, V&iacute;kingur &Oacute;lafsson has created a unique and emotionally gripping work that will delight generations to come. The recording sets new standards with regards to interpretation and sound and has delighted millions of listeners around the world. We are proud and grateful to have worked with V&iacute;kingur in close partnership over the past nine years, allowing us to bring his artistic vision to the world. The teams at Deutsche Grammophon and Universal Music are thrilled with the fantastic success of all our artists,&rdquo; Briegmann concludes.
&ldquo;Timeless and contemporary - we are absolutely delighted Deutsche Grammophon has been recognized for three projects that each find a remarkable balance between those qualities and thus underline the label&lsquo;s ambition as a whole: V&iacute;kingur&lsquo;s very first Grammy for his groundbreaking interpretation of Bach&rsquo;s iconic Goldberg cycle, which after almost a decade of inspired exclusive collaboration is particularly encouraging; Kaija Saariaho&rsquo;s towering work &bdquo;Adriana Mater&ldquo; in the world premiere recording by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra; and last but not least, Bradley Cooper and Yannick N&eacute;zet-S&eacute;guin who are bridging in &ldquo;Maestro&rdquo; half a century of music history with a stunning portrait of legendary Leonard Bernstein - a DG artist himself with a timelessly exciting catalogue,&rdquo; says Dr Clemens Trautmann, President Deutsche Grammophon. &ldquo;I extend my heartfelt congratulations to all of our winning artists and want to thank them and the team at the Yellow Label for their dedication and commitment to producing music at the highest level.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
67TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS&reg;&nbsp;
 Best Classical Instrumental Solo V&Iacute;KINGUR &Oacute;LAFSSON Bach: Goldberg Variations
Best Opera Recording SAARIAHO: ADRIANA MATER Kaija Saariaho, composer (Esa-Pekka Salonen, Fleur Barron, Nicholas Phan, Christopher Purves, Axelle Fanyo, San Francisco Symphony Chorus and Orchestra)
Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media (Includes Film and Television) MAESTRO: MUSIC BY LEONARD BERNSTEIN London Symphony Orchestra, Yannick N&eacute;zet-S&eacute;guin, Bradley Cooper
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

Víkingur Ólafsson Hits the One Billion Streams Milestone

Berlin, 25 November 2024 &ndash; Rounding off the year in style, V&iacute;kingur &Oacute;lafsson has just surpassed the magnificent landmark of one billion career streams worldwide. The numbers have soared steadily throughout 2024 &ndash; his Goldberg Variations album alone has now garnered over 88 million streams, while his brand-new Bach EP <a href="https://dg.lnk.to/continuum">CONTINUUM</a> has already achieved a streaming figure of over 14 million. And V&iacute;kingur retains his crown as the most streamed living pianist of the year for performances of Bach.
Adding to the already impressive list of accolades, &Oacute;lafsson also received his first ever GRAMMY Award&reg; nomination for his reading of the Goldberg Variations in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category. The same album won the prestigious OPUS KLASSIK Bestseller award and &Oacute;lafsson has just been named Musical America&rsquo;s Instrumentalist of the Year 2024.
&ldquo;The fact that V&iacute;kingur &Oacute;lafsson is reaching an extraordinary streaming milestone and receiving his first GRAMMY nomination at the same time may seem like a coincidence, but there is also a great inner logic behind it: V&iacute;kingur inspires both a younger generation of culturally curious listeners and the established classical music scene like no other artist,&rdquo; says Dr Clemens Trautmann, President Deutsche Grammophon. &ldquo;Heartfelt congratulations to this outstanding pianist and the smoothly connected teams behind him, including his management, our PR and live partners and &ndash; last but not least &ndash; my colleagues at the Yellow Label.&rdquo;
&ldquo;When V&iacute;kingur joined the label, we started with a total monthly listenership in the triple digits across streaming platforms,&rdquo; adds Christian Badzura, DG Vice President A&amp;R New Repertoire. &ldquo;One billion streams to date proves that with supreme artistic integrity, unique choice of repertoire, exceptional interpretations, and a tirelessly focused team great things are possible.&rdquo;
&ldquo;V&iacute;kingur is an exceptional artist who has inspired us from the very beginning to explore new, innovative paths of creativity.&rdquo; notes Marc Fritsch, Senior Marketing Director Special Projects at Deutsche Grammophon "He stands among the most celebrated pianists of our time and we are proud to be part of this unique success story.&rdquo;
&Oacute;lafsson&rsquo;s personal Bach journey is far from over, however. October saw the release of <a href="https://dg.lnk.to/continuum">CONTINUUM</a>, a six-track EP of piano arrangements of cantata movements and other short works by Bach, four of them realised by &Oacute;lafsson himself. In the pianist&rsquo;s own words, CONTINUUM is &ldquo;the first instalment in what will be an ongoing Bach diary&rdquo;.
In February and March 2025 &Oacute;lafsson will be reunited with fellow DG artist Yuja Wang for the North American continuation of the high-profile duo tour they launched in Reykjav&iacute;k in October 2024 and went on to perform across Europe (Berlin recital soon available to stream on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stage-plus.com/video/live_concert_9HKNCPA3DTN66PBIEHFJED9I">STAGE+</a>). The pair are now set to appear at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall (19&nbsp;February) and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (26 February).&nbsp;

DG recognized with four nominations for the 67th GRAMMY Awards®

Star pianist V&iacute;kingur &Oacute;lafsson earns a first GRAMMY&reg; nomination &nbsp;for his exceptional interpretation of Bach&rsquo;s Goldberg Variations
&nbsp;
The nominations for the 67th GRAMMY Awards&reg; were announced on 8th November in a special livestream event. Honouring outstanding artistic and technical achievement, the GRAMMY&reg; is the record industry&rsquo;s highest accolade, and this year, Deutsche Grammophon recordings have received nominations in four leading classical categories.
Pianist V&iacute;kingur &Oacute;lafsson&rsquo;s unanimously critically-acclaimed reading of Bach&rsquo;s Goldberg Variations is nominated for Best Classical Instrumental Solo, just months after he completed his season-long, six‑continent tour of the work.
Meanwhile DG&rsquo;s world premiere recording of the late Kaija Saariaho&rsquo;s much-admired second opera, Adriana Mater, is nominated for both Best Opera Recording and Best Contemporary Classical Composition. Directed by Peter Sellars, the opera is performed by the San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Symphony Chorus, with soloists Fleur Barron, Axelle Fanyo, Nicholas Phan and Christopher Purves, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.
The fourth nomination is in the Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media (Includes Film and Television) category, and goes to Maestro: Music by Leonard Bernstein, recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, Yannick N&eacute;zet-S&eacute;guin and the film&rsquo;s writer, director, producer and star Bradley Cooper.
Finally, there was also a nomination for Producer of the Year for Christoph Franke, whose body of work over the last year includes DG pianist Yuja Wang&rsquo;s eclectic and virtuosic hit album The Vienna Recital and the Beethoven sonata cycle for violin and piano with Antje Weithaas and D&eacute;nes V&aacute;rjon, a production of the DG-affiliated label CAvi-music.
&ldquo;It is very humbling and gratifying that Deutsche Grammophon has once again emerged as the classical label with most nominations. Seeing the immense dedication and hard work that goes into our recordings recognised by the Recording Academy means a lot to our artist community, to our respective project partners and to the entire Yellow Label team,&rdquo; says Dr Clemens Trautmann, President Deutsche Grammophon. &ldquo;The nominations represent our key areas of focus &ndash; exciting new repertoire and world premiere releases such as Saariaho&rsquo;s Adriana Mater with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony; outstanding production quality, as exemplified by Christoph Franke&rsquo;s recordings; our desire to reach out to a broader audience, as with Bradley Cooper&rsquo;s Maestro soundtrack, which celebrates both DG&rsquo;s past with Leonard Bernstein and its present with Yannick N&eacute;zet-S&eacute;guin; and &ndash; last but not least &ndash; groundbreaking new interpretations of iconic works, such as V&iacute;kingur &Oacute;lafsson&rsquo;s &lsquo;Goldberg&rsquo; cycle. This well-deserved first nomination for V&iacute;kingur is particularly heartwarming, as it recognises his absolutely unique take on Bach &ndash; one that has moved hundreds of millions of listeners across the globe and drawn remarkable crowds on his international 100-concert tour.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I am so honoured and happy to receive my first Grammy nomination!&rdquo; adds V&iacute;kingur &Oacute;lafsson. &ldquo;Thank you so much to all of you who listen to and support my work. And thank you to Johann Sebastian Bach for writing this glorious and incomparable piece of music. The Goldberg Variations will always be the music of the future.&rdquo;
The 67th GRAMMY Awards&reg; ceremony will be held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday 2&nbsp;February 2025. Aired live on the CBS Television Network, it will also be streamed live and on demand on Paramount+.
&nbsp;
Best Classical Instrumental Solo
V&Iacute;KINGUR &Oacute;LAFSSON
Bach: Goldberg Variations
&nbsp;
Best Opera Recording 
SAARIAHO: ADRIANA MATER
Kaija Saariaho, composer
(Esa-Pekka Salonen, Fleur Barron, Nicholas Phan, Christopher Purves, Axelle Fanyo, San Francisco Symphony Chorus and Orchestra)
&nbsp;
Best Contemporary Classical Composition
SAARIAHO: ADRIANA MATER
Kaija Saariaho, composer
(Esa-Pekka Salonen, Fleur Barron, Nicholas Phan, Christopher Purves, Axelle Fanyo, San Francisco Symphony Chorus and Orchestra)
&nbsp;
Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media (Includes Film and Television)
MAESTRO: MUSIC BY LEONARD BERNSTEIN
London Symphony Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Bradley Cooper

Víkingur Ólafsson - .S. Bach: Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D Major, BWV 972 (After Vivaldi, RV 230): II. Larghetto

J.S. BACH Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D Major, BWV 972 (After Vivaldi, RV 230): II. Larghetto  / Víkingur Ólafsson

Víkingur Ólafsson - J.S.Bach: Air on the G String

J.S. BACH Air on the G String / Víkingur Ólafsson

Víkingur Ólafsson: Sleep Spiral

SLEEP SPIRAL Víkingur Ólafsson

Víkingur Ólafsson - Opus 109

OPUS 109 Beethoven | Bach | Schubert / Víkingur Ólafsson

Continuum - Packshot

CONTINUUM Víkingur Ólafsson

Víkingur Ólafsson - J.S. Bach: Cantata, BWV 12: Weinen, klagen, Sorgen, Zagen

J.S. BACH Cantata, BWV 12: Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen / Víkingur Ólafsson

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Víkingur Ólafsson’s CONTINUUM II available to pre-order now

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Víkingur Ólafsson’s CONTINUUM II available to pre-order now - Víkingur Ólafsson | Deutsche Grammophon

Víkingur Ólafsson’s CONTINUUM II available to pre-order now

More music from Víkingur Ólafsson

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