Víkingur Ólafsson: Debussy, Glass & Rameau

Víkingur Ólafsson plays the Royal Festival Hall on Friday 12 March 2027, with a programme that pulls from three different centuries of keyboard music. He's pairing the vivid dances of Rameau, the Impressionist soundscapes of Debussy and the minimalist patterns of Philip Glass, and the whole thing runs about an hour and 45 minutes.

Ólafsson is often described as a musical storyteller, and that's exactly how this recital is built. He's weaving these three composers together around what they share: a fascination with colour, pattern and the possibilities of the keyboard. Rameau's Les cyclopes is one of the dances he'll be playing, and it sits alongside Debussy and Glass rather than being kept in its own era. The whole thing is part of the Southbank Centre's 'Philip Glass at 90' celebrations, so Glass is the common thread that ties the evening together.

It's a good place to start if you're not sure where you fit in. If you're into the older stuff, you've got Rameau; if you like the atmospheric side of things, there's Debussy; and if you're more of a minimalist, Glass is right there. Hearing them in one go lets you see how they actually talk to each other across the years.

As for the man himself, the reviews have been pretty consistent. BBC Music Magazine called him 'one of the great individual pianists of our time', and the New York Times described him as 'one of today's most intelligently expressive pianists'. He's playing solo, so it's just him and the piano for the full set.

The Royal Festival Hall is at the Southbank Centre on Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX. Standard entry starts from £24, with concessions available. It's a Friday night, 7pm start, and the whole thing should wrap up in under two hours.