Ólafsson made an unforgettable impact with the release of his two albums, Philip Glass Piano Works and Johann Sebastian Bach on Deutsche Grammophon, for whom he is an exclusive recording artist. Praised for revealing new possibilities within the music, Johann Sebastian Bach – featuring diverse original compositions and transcriptions, including Ólafsson’s own – has appeared in multiple best albums of the year lists, was named one of the greatest ever Bach recordings in Gramophone, won Best Instrumental and Album of the Year at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2019, and was named Artist of the Year at the Gramophone Awards 2019. Ólafsson’s previous album, Philip Glass Piano Works was an equal success and saw him named “Iceland’s Glenn Gould” by the New York Times and “breathtakingly brilliant pianist” by Gramophone. Ólafsson’s anticipated next album will be launched in the 2019-20 season, with recitals across Europe and Japan.

Ólafsson’s coming seasons are marked by a series of high-profile international artist residencies at some of the world’s top concert halls. This begins in 2019-20 at Berlin Konzerthaus with fourteen performances over eleven different projects. This season will also see Ólafsson give the French première of John Adams’ Piano Concerto No.2 with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (John Adams), as well as concerts with Konzerthausorchester Berlin (Christoph Eschenbach), Hallé (Klaus Mäkelä), Hong Kong Philharmonic (Jaap van Zweden), Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (Ed Gardner), San Diego Symphony (Rafael Payare), and Iceland Symphony Orchestra (Daníel Bjarnason).