Download Mahan Esfahani appointed as Professor of Harpsichord

PRESS RELEASE
8 December 2014
Mahan Esfahani appointed as Professor of Harpsichord
The Guildhall School is delighted to announce the appointment of world-renowned
harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani as Professor of Harpsichord and to welcome him to its
professorial staff from spring 2015.
Praised as ‘his instrument’s leading champion’, Esfahani was the first harpsichordist to
become a BBC New Generation Artist, and made history in 2011 with the first solo
harpsichord recital at the BBC Proms. Esfahani is dedicated to taking his instrument beyond
the realm of ‘early music’ and works with repertoire that spans four centuries. Most recently
he won the Gramophone Award 2014 for Best Baroque Instrumental Album and the
Diapason d’Or May 2014 for his Wigmore Hall Live recital recording of Byrd, Bach and
Ligeti. He recently signed as an exclusive artist with Deutsche Grammophon.
On 27 April 2015, Esfahani gives a solo recital in Milton Court Concert Hall as part of the
Guildhall School’s Faculty Artist Series. The programme includes works by Tomkins,
Gibbons, Kalabis, J.S. Bach and young British composer Daniel Kidane. The concert also
marks the inaugural outing of the School’s new harpsichord. The instrument, which was
generously donated to the School by David and Sandra Herbert, is a reproduction of an early
18th century Michael Mietke instrument, made in 2005 by Alan Gotto. Inside the lid is a hand
oil-painted partial copy of a work by Canaletto in 1732 which is now part of the Royal
Collection at Windsor Castle.
Jonathan Vaughan, Director of Music, Guildhall School commented: ‘I am delighted to
welcome Mahan to the School. As a soloist he has quickly acquired a towering
reputation which will inspire our students by example. His breadth of interest in all periods
of music, allied to a serious research ethic, engenders an approach to performance that will
be embraced by all departments but particularly Keyboard and Historical Performance. As a
champion of new music for both solo and ensemble harpsichord we anticipate him working
very closely with composition and a variety of instrumentalists’
Mahan Esfahani said, ‘Part of my mission in widening the horizons of my instrument is an
investment in young musicians. I am honoured that the Guildhall School has asked me to be
involved with nurturing the next generation of harpsichordists.’
The Guildhall School of Music & Drama is provided by the City of London Corporation.
www.gsmd.ac.uk
For further press information please contact:
Rebecca Driver Media Relations
Tel: 020 7247 1894
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Web: www.rdmr.co.uk