Vikingur finally gets his world premiere
NewsThe star Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has been waiting almost two years to premiere a concerto by the young Finnish composer Sauli Zinovjev. The intended date was April 2020, when the world was in full lockdown.
The performance will finally go ahead in Helsinki on Friday, conducted by Klaus Mäkelä – but without an audience, due to Covid.
He is also scheduled to premier the new Bjarnason Piano Concerto on February 18th in Los Angeles with Salonen conducting.
Like most 21st century piano concerti, the work itself was essentially a reworking / pastiche / ”hommage á” / imitation of a major prewar concerto, this time the Prokofiev 3rd. To Zinovjev’s credit, it was at least well balanced and orchestrated, and didn’t appear to be painfully unpianistic unlike some similar works by more famous names.