Mahan Esfahani

Splicing classic Baroque works with a reminder that the harpsichord is no mere museum piece, Mahan Esfahani has opened up inspiring new territories.

There’s a nod to Esfahani’s Iranian roots in Haim Alexander’s compact Improvisation on a Persian Folksong. And it owes something to the courtly chic of Couperin as well as Rameau’s delectable character pieces (whose E minor Suite includes the fabulously punchy Tambourin). Henze and Berio, meanwhile, lend perspectives from the 1960s, while in search of lost time and premiered by Esfahani in 2023, Mark Applebaum’s October 1582 deploys electronics, bells, and a dash of playful theatricality.

Holder of the coveted Wigmore Hall Medal, and winner of the concerto category in 2023’s Opus Klassik Awards, Mahan Esfahani is a harpsichordist for whom ‘flipping stereotypes’ (The Seattle Times) is second nature. Bach and Buxtehude to Brett Dean and Gavin Bryars, for The Independent he’s quite simply ‘one of a kind… fruitfully provocative’.

Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord)