Mahan Esfahani
Born in Iran, trained largely in the U.S., active in Britain, and resident in Prague, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani has helped bring the solo harpsichord into the concert mainstream. In 2011, he became the first keyboardist to perform an all-harpsichord recital during the BBC Proms festival.
Esfahani was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1984 but was raised mostly in the U.S. His father gave him lessons on the piano, and as a teenager, he discovered the harpsichord. Esfahani was admitted to Stanford University in California, where he studied musicology and music history under George Houle, continuing to deepen his interest in early music. After graduating, he moved to Boston for harpsichord studies with Peter Watchorn and then to Prague for further work with Zuzana Růžičková. Esfahani served as an artist in residence at New College, Oxford, from 2008 to 2010, and several major prizes and fellowships from around this period helped launch his career. These included designation as a BBC New Generation Artist (2008-2010), a Borletti-Buitoni Trust award (2009), and several nominations for Classical Artist of the Year from Gramophone magazine. After a 2009 recording of the complete harpsichord music of John Bull on the Musica Omnia label, Esfahani moved to the Hyperion and OUR Recordings labels for a series of albums.
Esfahani has appeared at major halls in the U.S., across Europe, and in East Asia, including Lincoln Center in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, and Oji Hall in Tokyo. He has performed concertos with the BBC Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, and the Melbourne Symphony, among many others. From 2016 to 2019, he was an artistic partner to the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Esfahani has often included contemporary music in his concerts even when, as in a 2016 Cologne performance of Steve Reich's Piano Phase on the harpsichord, he faced boos from the audience. In 2016, he released a recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, on Deutsche Grammophon. Esfahani released the album Musique? in 2020, and in April of that year in the U.S., he became the first solo harpsichordist to appear on the NPR radio network's "Tiny Desk Concert" program. Esfahani has been a professor of music at London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama since 2015, and he is often heard as a commentator on the BBC 3 and BBC 4 radio networks. He released several albums devoted to Bach's music on Hyperion during the COVID-19 pandemic, including Bach: Notebooks for Anna Magdalena in 2023. That year also saw the release of an album of harpsichord works by Viktor Kalabis, Hans Krása, and Bohuslav Martinů.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Bach: The French Suites
Klassiek - Released by Hyperion on 6 okt. 2023
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Martinů, Krása & Kalabis: Harpsichord Concertos
Mahan Esfahani, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Alexander Liebreich
Klassiek - Released by Hyperion on 3 feb. 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
C.P.E. Bach: Württemberg Sonatas, H.30-H.36
Klassiek - Released by Hyperion on 5 jan. 2014
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Anna Magdalena Notebooks, 1722 and 1725
Mahan Esfahani, Carolyn Sampson
Klassiek - Released by Hyperion on 5 mei 2023
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: The 6 Partitas for Harpsichord, BWV 825-830
Klassiek - Released by Hyperion on 28 mei 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Italian Concerto, French Overture, 4 Duets, Capriccios
Klassiek - Released by Hyperion on 2 sep. 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Goldberg Variations
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 26 aug. 2016
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: The Toccatas for Harpsichord, BWV 910-916
Klassiek - Released by Hyperion on 2 aug. 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rameau: Pièces de clavecin – Complete Keyboard Suites
Klassiek - Released by Hyperion on 2 nov. 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Arcangelo Corelli : La follia
Kamermuziek - Released by OUR Recordings on 3 nov. 2014
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Time Present and Time Past
Klassiek - Released by Archiv Produktion on 11 mei 2015
Qobuzissime24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Musique? – Modern and Electro-Acoustic Works for Harpsichord
Klassiek - Released by Hyperion on 26 jun. 2020
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Passinge Mesures – Music of the English Virginalists
Klassiek - Released by Hyperion on 2 nov. 2018
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Flute Sonatas BWVV 1030-1035 (Arr. for Recorder & Basso continuo)
Michala Petri, Hille Perl, Mahan Esfahani
Klassiek - Released by OUR Recordings on 1 nov. 2019
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Chaconne in G Major for Harpsichord, HWV 435 (Musical Moments)
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 11 mei 2015
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Poul Ruders: Harpsichord Concerto (Live)
Mahan Esfahani, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Leif Segerstam
Klassiek - Released by OUR Recordings on 20 mei 2022
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Byrd, Bach, Ligeti (Wigmore Hall Live)
Kamermuziek - Released by Wigmore Hall Live on 10 mrt. 2014
Gramophone Editor's Choice16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
UK DK
Kamermuziek - Released by OUR Recordings on 3 mrt. 2015
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Magic Carpet for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord
Klassiek - Released by Myrna Herzog e Mahan Esfahani [dist. Tratore] on 24 mrt. 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Anna Magdalena Notebooks, 1722 and 1725
Mahan Esfahani, Carolyn Sampson
Klassiek - Released by Hyperion on 5 mei 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bull: Complete Works for Keyboard, Volume 1
Peter Watchorn, Mahan Esfahani
Klassiek - Released by Musica Omnia on 23 mrt. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo