Víkingur Ólafsson, piano
Opus 109
Here, Ólafsson has designed a program exploring the first of Beethoven’s great final piano sonata trilogy, Op. 109, in depth. He presents this masterpiece in the context of the composer’s formal breakthrough in his earlier Op. 90 sonata and of Beethoven’s ongoing fascination with the legacy of J.S. Bach. Beethoven’s profound influence on his younger contemporary Schubert is still another thread of the program: the rarely performed Sonata in E minor, which Schubert wrote when he was only 20, shows his awareness of Beethoven’s innovative two-movement Op. 90.
Ólafsson describes the recital as “a road to Opus 109.… Some of [the music] is very Classical. Much of it is progressive and Romantic, but the roots all lie in the Baroque period with Bach.”
Leadership support for the 2025-26 Víkingur Ólafsson residency at Cal Performances is provided by Michael P. N. A. Hormel.
This performance is made possible in part by Jeffrey Mackie-Mason and Janet Netz.
| BACH | Prelude in E major from The Well Tempered Clavier, Book I |
| BEETHOVEN | Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90 |
| BACH | Partita No. 6 in E minor |
| SCHUBERT | Piano Sonata in E minor |
| BEETHOVEN | Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109 |
The Program Book will be available approximately one week before the performance.
Víkingur Ólafsson, piano
Opus 109
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Víkingur Ólafsson, piano
Opus 109
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