For Víkingur Ólafsson, Mozart’s last years were “one of the most incredible decades of any composer in the history of music”. In 1781, says the Icelandic pianist, Mozart discovered the music of Bach at a library in Vienna and his study of Bach’s work significantly reinforced his own. This period, when Mozart also reached the height of his creative maturity, forms the basis of the repertoire Ólafsson will perform in the Mozart and Contemporaries programme. This will not only include other classical composers but also the less jovial and denser tone than that normally associated with Mozart.