Event info

Víkingur plays Mozart
30. Nov » 19:30 Eldborg | Harpa

CONDUCTOR
Dima Slobodeniouk

SOLOIST
Víkingur Heiðar Ólafsson

PROGRAM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto no. 24 in C minor
Richard Strauss Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life)

Richard Strauss’ powerful orchestral works are among the most splendid ever written for symphony orchestra. One of his signature masterpieces is Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), from 1898, in which Strauss sketches a picture of himself as a hero who emerges victorious from his grapplings with life’s adversities. This expansive composition demands a gigantic orchestra and has not been heard in Iceland in over a decade. Now we hear it under the baton of Dima Slobodeniouk, Principal Conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, who took Iceland by storm when he conducted the Iceland Symphony last year.

Mozart was at the height of his fame in Vienna when he completed his Piano Concerto in C minor in 1786, around the time he wrote The Marriage of Figaro. This poignant work, one of the master’s best, had a strong influence on the young Beethoven. Víkingur Heiðar Ólafsson is constantly rising to new heights as an artist, as is indicated clearly by the rave reviews of his recent Deutsche Grammophon recording of piano works by Philip Glass.