1. Mahan Esfahani studied musicology and history at Stanford University, where he took his first harpsichord lessons with Elaine Thornburgh and was mentored by George Houle.
10 Facts About Mahan Esfahani
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Mahan Esfahani continued his harpsichord studies in Boston with Peter Watchorn, before completing his studies under Czech harpsichordist Zuzana Ruzickova.
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Mahan Esfahani was the first harpsichordist to be a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, and to be honoured by an award from the Borletti-Buitoni Trust.
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Mahan Esfahani has been a nominee for Gramophone Classical Music Awards Artist of the Year.
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Mahan Esfahani has had concerto appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia, Symfonicky orchestr Ceskeho rozhlasu, Orquesta de Navarra, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony, Munich Chamber Orchestra, and Britten Sinfonia.
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Mahan Esfahani can be frequently heard as a commentator on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4 and as a host for such programs as Record Review, Building a Library, and Sunday Feature.
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Mahan Esfahani made his Wigmore Hall debut in 2009 as a concerto soloist with The English Concert.
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In July 2011, Mahan Esfahani gave the first solo harpsichord recital in the history of The Proms, at Cadogan Hall.
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Mahan Esfahani returned to The Proms in July 2012, leading the Academy of Ancient Music in his own arrangement of JS Bach's The Art of Fugue.
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Mahan Esfahani recorded Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's Wurttemberg Sonatas for Hyperion Records, and the recording won a 2014 Gramophone Award in the Baroque Instrumental category.