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Congratulations to Mahan Esfahani: His recording of 20th century Czech harpsichord concertos with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra under Alexander Liebreich was awarded an Opus Klassik.
For his recording of Bach's six partitas, Mahan Esfahani examined various copies and printed editions of the works.
Dieterich Buxtehude, La Capricciosa (BuxWV 250)
Johann Sebastian Bach, Goldberg variations BWW 988
Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord
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). In 2022, he became the youngest recipient of the Wigmore Medal, in recognition of his significant contribution and longstanding relationship with the Hall.
His work for the harpsichord has resulted in recitals in most of the major series and concert halls, amongst them London's 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, 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, Seattle Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia, Orquesta de Navarra, Malta Philharmonic, Orchestra La Scintilla, Montreal’s Les Violons du Roy, Hamburg Symphony, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, with whom he was an artistic partner for 2016-2018.
Recent highlights include the world premières of several harpsichord concerto commissions; by Miroslav Srnka with the Gürzenich Orchester Köln where he was Artist-in-Residence for 22/23,; by Gavin Bryars with the RLPO; by Poul Ruders with the Aarhus Symfoniorkester; and by Bent Sorensen with the Bergen Philharmonic and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Recital highlights include the Southbank Centre, Fundación Juan March, De Bijloke, Alte Oper Frankfurt and Walt Disney Concert Hall, with Emmanuel Pahud at Brucknerhaus Linz, with Carolyn Sampson at Three Choirs Festival, and a Scarlatti Day curated for the Barbican.
Highlights this season include his Artist-in-Residence at the Lammermuir Festival, and appearances with the Ulster Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfonica de Navarra, Amarillo Symphony, Brno Philharmonie, Odense Symphony and Orchestre National de Lyon, and recitals at Carnegie Hall, LSO St Luke’s, Muziekgebouw Eindhoven and Darmstadt. His Wigmore Hall Bach cycle continues with the violin and keyboard sonatas with Antje Weithaas, and the keyboard concertos with the Britten Sinfonia.
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.
Building on the successes of two full evenings of new music for harpsichord and electronics at the Tectonics Festival and at the Barbican, he continues this work at Berlin’s Akademie der Künste and Prague’s Contempuls and Autumn Strings Festivals, including continuing work in promoting the re-discovery of Luc Ferrari’s Musique socialiste: Programme commun (1972) for harpsichord and tape.
His richly-varied discography includes 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. His latest disc in his solo Bach cycle for Hyperion was awarded a ICMA in the Baroque instrumental category, and his first concerto disc for Hyperion, of Czech concertos, was released in February 2023 and won an Opus Klassik award.
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.
2023/24 season
Valid for use until 1 February 2024 - for updated versions please contactinfo@rayfieldallied.com
K. Penderecki: Partita for Harpsichord and Orchestra (1971)B. Martinů: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra (1935)F. Martin: Petite Symphonie Concertante for Harp, Harpsichord and Piano (1945)F. Martin: Concert pour clavecin et petit orchestre (1952)F. Poulenc: Concert champêtre for Harpsichord and Orchestra (1928)M. de Falla: Concerto for Harpsichord and five Instruments (1926)H. Górecki: Concert for Harpsichord and Strings (1980)I. Xenakis: "À l'Ile de Goree" for Harpsichord and Ensemble (Concerto) (1986)V. Kalabis: Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings, Op. 42 (1975)R. Gerhard: Concerto for Harpsichord, Percussion and Strings (1959)
Solo
IJ. C. Bach: prelude E flat major -Dur, BWV Anh. 177/1; J. Pachelbel: Ciaccona D Major; L. Marchand: suite D minorJ. 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 904G. Frescobaldi: Capriccio sopra la Bassa Fiammenga, F4.05; J. S. Bach: Toccata D Major, BWV 912
IIT. Tallis: Felix namque; L. Berio: Rounds; J.-P. Rameau: Les tendres plaintes - Le lardon - La boiteuse - L'entretien des Muses - Les cyclopesH. Cowell: Set of FourM. Srnka: TriggeringJ. S. Bach: Partita No. in A minor, BWV 827
IIIS. Rasmussen: Quadroforone No. 1; L. Berio: Rounds; M. Srnka: Triggering;J. Cage: HPSCHD: Solo VII; A. Abbasi: Intertwined Distances
Duo with Emmanuel Pahud
Trio with Michala Petri and Hille Perl
Works by Bach et. al.
Duo with Maximilian Hornung
Antonio Vivaldi: Sonata No. 3 in A MinorGiovanni Platti: Set 1, Sonata No. 1J.C.F. Bach: Sonata in A MajorMarin Marais: Les Folies d'EspagneVictor Kalabis: 4 DialoguesGiovanni Platti: Set 2, Sonata No. 6 Antonio Vivaldi: Sonata No. 5 in E sharp Minor
Details and further programmes on request.
"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
Frankfurt Radio Symphony | Tribute to György Ligeti | Alain Altinoglu (Conductor)
Frankfurt Radio Symphony | Tribute to György Ligeti | Alain Altinoglu (Conductor)Livestream 31/03/2023 from the Alte Oper, Frankfurt am Main
Gürzenich Orchester Köln
Livestream from 12.09.2022 from the Kölner Philharmonie
Miroslav Srnka: Standstill for Harpsichord and Orchestra (2021) World PremiereJean-Philippe Rameau: Gavotte with six variations
A. Abbasi: Intertwined distances
J. S. Bach: Selected flute sonatas | Michala Petri, Hille Perl
Harrogate Festival
J.-P. Rameau: Suite in G major
G. Lynch: Admiring Yoro Waterfall, P. Ben-Haim: Improvisation on a Persian folk song
Poul Ruders: Harpsichord Concerto
Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Leif Segerstam
Podcast zu Mahan Esfahanis Bach-Schwerpunkt an der Wigmore Hall
S. Reich: Piano Phase For Two Pianos
F. Martin: Harpsichord Concerto
Our Recordings, 2022
Hyperion, DDD, 2021 - CDA68397
Hyperion, DDD, 2021 - CDA68336
Hyperion, DDD, 2021 - CDA68311/2
Hyperion, DDD, 2019 - CDA68287
Our Recordings, DDD, 2018
Hyperion, DDD, 2018 - CDA68244
Hyperion Records Limited 2018, Hyperion A68249
Deutschlandfunk | Deutsche Grammophon GmbH 2016
Our Recordings, OUR 6220610, 2015
Deutschlandfunk | Deutsche Grammophon GmbH 2015
Hyperion Record Limited 2014
Wigmore Hall Live 2014
Hyperion Records Limited 2013, Hyperion A67995