"Bach brings the world into balance"

When Víkingur Ólafsson appears on screen for the interview, he is sitting in a hotel room in Gothenburg. That evening, he is performing a piano concerto in the city, written especially for him by the American composer John Adams. The 41-year-old Icelander is rarely in Reykjavík anymore; since his breakthrough seven years ago, he has been at home on the world's stages – as an important representative of a new generation of pianists who are bringing classical music to new audiences. For this, there was...