Event info

Víkingur and Daníel – Iceland Symphony
 - En Route to Germany

Edvard Grieg: Selections from Peer Gynt
Daníel Bjarnason: Processions, piano concerto
W. A. Mozart: Horn Concerto no. 3
Jean Sibelius: Symphony no. 5

Daníel Bjarnason, conductor
Víkingur Heiðar Ólafsson, soloist
Radovan Vlatkovic, soloist

In November 2019, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra embarks on a concert tour of Germany and Austria. At the Konzerthaus in Berlin the orchestra's guest soloist will be Víkingur Heiðar Ólafsson, the venue's Artist-in-Residence for the 2019-2020 season, while in Salzburg the Orchestra will hold three concerts with Croatian horn virtuoso Radovan Vlatkovic. Other stops on the tour include additional appearances in Berlin and Munich. Beforehand, the Iceland Symphony will perform many of the works on the tour programmes in Eldborg hall.

It was a major event in Iceland when Víkingur Heiðar Ólafsson premiered Daníel Bjarnason's new piano concerto, Processions, in 2009. “Concertgoers floated out of the hall with a new faith in the future,” wrote Guðrún Nordal about the concert in a recent book. Since then the concerto has been heard widely, to rave reviews from the international media.
Sibelius' masterful Symphony no. 5 is widely considered the best symphony he wrote. The composer himself thought he had seldom done better, and in a letter to a close friend he wrote: “God opens His door for a moment and His orchestra plays the Fifth Symphony.”

Víkingur Heiðar is well established as one of Iceland's foremost musicians on the world stage. His most recent CD, with works by Bach, universally lauded by critics, won him Artist of the Year Award at the 2019 Gramophone Classical Music Awards. The CD also received BBC Music magazine's Recording of the Year award, was selected as one of Gramophone's recordings of the month, and was named The Sunday Times' album of the week. Recent engagements include appearances with many of Europe and North America's most respected orchestras — in such far-flung cities as Helsinki, Stockholm, and Los Angeles — and solo recitals in London and in New York's Lincoln Center.

Daníel Bjarnason conducts the Iceland Symphony during the Germany-Austria tour. Daníel has drawn international notice in recent years for his compositions and his conducting. Daníel's newest work was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and premiered at their centennial birthday concert in October. Daníel was Iceland Symphony's Artist-in-Residence in the years 2015-18 and is currently the orchestra's Principal Guest Conductor.

The concert on November 7th is sold out. An additional concert on November 8th has gone on sale.