Mahan Esfahani

Since making his London debut in 2009, Mahan Esfahani has established himself as the first harpsichordist in a generation whose work spans virtually all areas of classical music-making. He was the first and only harpsichordist to be a BBC New Generation Artist (2008-2010), a Borletti-Buitoni prize winner (2009), a nominee for Gramophone’s Artist of the Year (2014, 2015 & 2017) and on the shortlist as Instrumentalist of the Year for the RPS Awards (2013 & 2019). In 2022 he received the Wigmore Medal for his contributions to musical life as a solo artist. Esfahani’s work on modern music is particularly acclaimed, with high-profile solo and concertante commissions from George Lewis, Bent Sørensen, Poul Ruders, Anahita Abbasi, Daniel Kidane and Michael Berkeley. His varied discography for Hyperion and Deutsche Grammophon—including a series of the complete works of Bach—has garnered a Gramophone Award, two BBC Music Magazine Awards, a Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, a Diapason d’Or and an ICMA. He can be frequently heard as a commentator and host on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. Born in Tehran in 1984, Esfahani grew up in the US, studying musicology and history at Stanford University and working as a repetiteur and studying in Boston with Peter Watchorn before completing his studies in Prague with Zuzana Růžičková. Following several years spent in Milan, Oxford and London, he now makes his home in Prague.