Mahan Esfahani

Mahan Esfahani is known mainly for his career as a harpsichordist in two major realms: the great works of the 17th and 18th centuries and for championing modern and living composers in halls and with orchestras on four continents. More recently he has a growing reputation as an active broadcaster and commentator with radio documentaries on a variety of musical and social topics for the BBC and articles for the The New Yorker, Guardian, and Opera. Born in Tehran, he grew up in the United States and has spent his post-university life living between Milan, Oxford, London, and more recently Prague, where he spends his time between concerts writing, collecting rare books, and studying ancient and modern languages.

Mahan Esfahani is known mainly for his career as a harpsichordist in two major realms: the great works of the 17th and 18th centuries and for championing modern and living composers in halls and with orchestras on four continents. More recently he has a growing reputation as an active broadcaster and commentator with radio documentaries on a variety of musical and social topics for the BBC and articles for the The New Yorker, Guardian, and Opera. Born in Tehran, he grew up in the United States and has spent his post-university life living between Milan, Oxford, London, and more recently Prague, where he spends his time between concerts writing, collecting rare books, and studying ancient and modern languages.

On tea

Mahan Esfahani

Within this international drink is a microcosm of all the movements and ambitions and exchanges of mankind.

What if Bach and Handel had met?

Mahan Esfahani

The massive international stature of Handel’s success seems to have irked Bach’s acolytes enough for them to fashion a false binary which to an extent persists to this day.

In praise of music’s uselessness

Mahan Esfahani

Let’s do away with moralising about music and take pure pleasure in the work of composers of the past.