Mahan Esfahani

Contact

Clara Rempe
cr@karstenwitt.com
+49 30 214 594-233

Kathrin Feldmann-Uhl
kf@karstenwitt.com
+49 30 214 594-241

Local Management Germany, Austria, Switzerland

Biography

Such virtuosity and disarming presentation suggests that Esfahani could inspire a whole new appreciation of the instrument. The Guardian

Mahan Esfahani has made it his life's mission to rehabilitate the harpsichord in the mainstream of concert instruments, and to that end his creative programming and work in commissioning new works have drawn the attention of critics and audiences across Europe, Asia, and North America. He was the first and only harpsichordist to be a BBC New Generation Artist (2008-2010), a Borletti- Buitoni prize winner (2009), and a nominee for Gramophone's Artist of the Year (2014, 2015, and 2017).

His work for the harpsichord has resulted in recitals in most of the major series and concert halls, amongst them London's Wigmore Hall and Barbican Centre, Oji Hall in Tokyo, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, Shanghai Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall in NYC, Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Centre, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, Berlin Konzerthaus, Zurich Tonhalle, Wiener Konzerthaus, San Francisco Performances, the 92nd St Y, Schleswig- Holstein Music Festival, Cologne Philharmonie, Edinburgh International Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Madrid's Fundacio Juan March, Bergen Festival, Festival Mecklenburg- Vorpommern, Al Bustan Festival in Beirut, Jerusalem Arts Festival, and the Leipzig Bach Festival, and concerto appearances with the Chicago Symphony, Ensemble Modern, BBC Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia, Czech Radio Symphony, Orquesta de Navarra, Malta Philharmonic, Orchestra La Scintilla, Aarhus Symphony, Montreal’s Les Violons du Roy, Hamburg Symphony, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, with whom he was an artistic partner for 2016-2018.

Particularly renowned for his championing of contemporary music, Esfahani has commissioned and premiered solo works and concertos from such composers as George Lewis, Bent Sorensen, Anahita Abbasi, Sunleif Rasmussen, Daniel Kidane, Laurence Osborne, Gary Carpenter, Harold Meltzer, Elena Kats-Chernin, and Miroslav Srnka.

His richly-varied discography includes seven critically-acclaimed recordings for Hyperion and Deutsche Grammophon – garnering one Gramophone award, two BBC Music Magazine Awards, a Diapason d’Or and ‘Choc de Classica’ in France, and an ICMA. His latest CD Musique? has been awarded a prize by the German Record Critics (List of Best).

Esfahani studied musicology and history at Stanford University, where he first came into contact with the harpsichord in the class of Elaine Thornburgh. Following his decision to abandon the law for music, he studied harpsichord privately in Boston with Peter Watchorn before completing his formation under the celebrated Czech harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková. Following a three-year stint as Artist-in-Residence at New College, Oxford, he continues his academic associations as an honorary member at Keble College, Oxford, and as professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He can be frequently heard as a commentator on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4 and as a host for such programs as Record Review, Building a Library, and Sunday Feature, as well as in live programmes with the popular mathematician and presenter Marcus du Sautoy; for the BBC’s Sunday Feature he is currently at work on his fourth radio documentary following two popular programmes on such subjects as the early history of African-American composers in the classical sphere and the development of orchestral music in Azerbaijan. Born in Tehran in 1984 and raised in the United States, he lived in Milan and then London for several years before taking up residence in Prague.

2022/23 season

This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions, or additions, unless expressly authorised by the artist management.

Repertoire

Orchesterrepertoire

J. S. Bach

Concerto d minor BWV 1052

Concerto E major BWV 1053

Concerto D major BWV 1054

Concerto A major BWV 1055

Concerto f minor BWV 1056

Concerto F major BWV 1057

Concerto g minor BWV 1058

Concerto d minor BWV 1059 (reconstruction as BWV 1059r by Mahan Esfahani)

Brandenburg Concerto V BWV 1050

Triple Concerto BWV 1044

C. P. E. Bach

Concerto for harpsichord e minor Wg. 15

Concerto for harpsichord, strings & continuo d minor Wq. 23

Concerto for harpsichord, 2 horns ad libitum and strings c minor Wq. 37

Concerto for harpsichord, 2 flutes ad libitum and strings F major Wq. 38

Concerto for harpsichord F major Wg. 42

more

Programmes

Solo

I
J. C. Bach: prelude E flat major -Dur, BWV Anh. 177/1; J. Pachelbel: Ciaccona D Major; L. Marchand: suite D minor
J. S. Bach: Toccata D minor, BWV 913; W. Byrd: Ut re mi fa sol la G major; J. S. Bach: Fantasy and Fugue A minor, BWV 904
G. Frescobaldi: Capriccio sopra la Bassa Fiammenga, F4.05; J. S. Bach: Toccata D Major, BWV 912

II
T. Tallis: Felix namque; L. Berio: Rounds;
J.-P. Rameau: Les tendres plaintes - Le lardon - La boiteuse - L'entretien des Muses - Les cyclopes
H. Cowell: Set of Four
M. Srnka: Triggering
J. S. Bach: Partita No. in A minor, BWV 827

III
S. Rasmussen: Quadroforone No. 1; L. Berio: Rounds; M. Srnka: Triggering;
J. Cage: HPSCHD: Solo VII; A. Abbasi: Intertwined Distances

Duo with Antje Weithaas

All Bach
J. S. Bach All 6 Sonatas (BWV 1014-1019)

Bach/Milhaud/Piston
J. S. Bach: Sonata in E minor BWV 1023; D. Milhaud: Sonata;
J. S. Bach: Sonate No. 3 E major for violin and obligatory harpsichord, BWV 1016
C. P. E. Bach: Sonata in B minor; J. S. Bach: Sonata in F minor BWV 1018
W. Piston: Sonatina for violin and harpsichord

Duo with Emmanuel Pahud

Bach & Sons
Sonatas by J.S. Bach and his 4 composer sons

Trio with Michala Petri and Hille Perl

Works by Bach et. al.

Duo with Maximilian Hornung

Antonio Vivaldi: Sonata No. 3 in A Minor
Giovanni Platti: Set 1, Sonata No. 1
J.C.F. Bach: Sonata in A Major
Marin Marais: Les Folies d'Espagne
Victor Kalabis: 4 Dialogues
Giovanni Platti: Set 2, Sonata No. 6
Antonio Vivaldi: Sonata No. 5 in E sharp Minor

Details and further programmes on request.

References

"There is nothing stale about Mahan Esfahani. His crusades for his instrument, the harpsichord, know no bounds, and this album of 20th-century Czech repertoire, vividly recorded in Prague with top Czech musicians, keeps springing surprises. […] Throughout Esfahani’s fingers never stop sparkling; he should commission an opera, “The Magic Harpsichord”."

The Times, Geoff Brown, 9 February 2023

"This new album from Mahan Esfahani is an unalloyed joy from first chord to last. Martinů, Krása and Kalabis all on one programme: what’s not to like? Of course, sometimes expectations run wild ahead of actuality, but not here. If I encounter an album as good as this one this year I will be overjoyed! […] Esfahani plays like an angel."

Gramophone, Guy Rickards, February 2023

"Glittering virtuosity. The colours he brings to all the works here [...] make us revel anew in the sonic capabilities of the harpsichord."

The Guardian, Fiona Maddocks, 27 August 2022

"Scintillating contribution [...] Mahan Esfahani revels in the incisive moto perpetuo."

BBC Music Magazine, Paul Riley, 21 July 2022

"Mahan Esfahani’s playing is simply breath-taking throughout. Ruders impressively-idiomatic writing for the harpsichord is centred on Esfahani’s prodigious skill and virtuosity, as well as his all-embracing sense of musical architecture, expressive niceties, and incredible feel for detail. It might, therefore, be felt that a bespoke concerto like this would fit the player like a well-tailored suit, but if you listen to Esfahani’s video, he confirms just how very difficult the work is, in every respect. His prodigious talents, however, are such that he is able to surmount every technical challenge, effectively belying its obvious difficulty."

Musicweb International, Philipp R. Buttall, 13 May 2022

"Mahan Esfahani is one of the most sought-after harpsichordists of our time, who, in addition to the technical requirements, has the necessary curiosity and musical intuition to perform such a composition. Therefore he succeeds in an exciting and intensive interpretation."

Pizzicato, Uwe Krusch, 29 April 2022

"Part of the startling immediacy and modernity of Mahan Esfahani's performances comes from the range of sounds his modern harpsichord can produce, with its rich bass register … but also the breadth of Esfahani's imagination, his sense of theatre, his willingness to explore and experiment. It might be too much for some, but it'll be a revelation to others."

BBC Record Review, Simon Heighes, 29 May2021

"In tempo, articulation and colouring each piece had real character, be it joyful, reverential, playful, scholarly, lamenting or light-hearted. Esfahani both revelled in improvisatory freedom and intelligently led us through thickets of fugal writing."

The Times, Rebecca Franks, 21 April 2021

“Here we have a cohesive, effective, taut programme of 20th-century harpsichord works that builds surely in density, complexity and philosophical provocation as it proceeds. In terms of programming, it’s a winner … there’s a lot here to get your teeth into.”

Gramophone, August 2020 - on his CD "Musique?", published on 3 July 2020

“Mahan Esfahani—he’s just such an amazing force and a polemicist for the harpsichord […] because although he’s brilliant at Bach he refuses to let the harpsichord remain in an ‘Early Music’ box, and he’s a great commissioner and performer of new music […] really good recorded sound as well […] it’s brilliantly done.”

BBC Record Review, July 2020 - on his CD "Musique?", published on 3 July 2020

“The adventurous harpsichord champion Mahan Esfahani has, for the first time, devoted an entire album to music of our time. To further stretch the boundaries of the known, three of the six compositions also contain an electronic component, often based on the harpsichord sound itself. [...] Esfahani's compatriot, Iranian Anahita Abbasi, shows herself a composer with guts in the two-year-old Intertwined Distances. Alienating buzzing sounds and furious keyboard fists interspersed with gossamer string playing create a theatrical listening experience.”

Frits van der Waa, de Volkskrant, 15 July 2020

“Esfahani’s playing feels free and spontaneous without losing the underlying pulse of the music. The toccatas display their brilliance proudly. One can imagine the young Bach showing off his prowess just like this.”

Richard Fairman, The Financial Times, about his CD "The Toccatas, Hyperion (CDA68244)"

“He plays through the work with almost improvisatory freedom, in addition to formidable technique. The fast, hair-raising virtuoso variations that require crossing hands sound, in his interpretation, with outstanding clarity.”

Bergens Tidende, May 2019

“The real kick-ass moments came […] in Mahan Esfahani’s anarchic solo harpsichord programme, where the delicate instrument of Bach and Couperin – especially in George Lewis’ Timelike Weave – became a liberated voice of rebellion.”

Ken Walton, The Scotsman, May 2019

“Now he emerges as a superstar whose musicianship, imagination, virtuosity, cultural breadth and charisma far transcends the ivory tower in which the harpsichord has traditionally been placed.”

Record Review / Richard Morrison, The Times (London), 8 May 2015

“Excellent performance of five Scarlatti sonatas, beginning with an elegant rendition of the Sonata in F minor (K. 462). Mr. Esfahani demonstrated impressive technique during the Sonata in G (K. 124) and again during”
the rapid-fire Sonata in D minor (K. 141).

Vivien Schweitzer, The New York Times, Arpil 2012

“Esfahani´s playing is colourful and magnetic, the fingerwork in the more virtuoso works absolutely clean and articulate.”

Phillip Kennicott, Gramophone

“It would be hard not to be impressed by Iranian harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani [...] always insightful and, above all, visceral”

Kate Molleson, The Guardian, July 2012

more