Harpsichord Recital with Mahan Esfahani

14th international Pharos Chamber Music Festival

Hailed as the ''leading harpsichordist of his generation'' (Opera Today), Mahan Esfahani (b. 1984) is the first harpsichordist to be named a BBC New Generation Artist (2008-2010). In 2009 he gave his solo recital debut at the Wigmore Hall, about which the Daily Telegraph exclaimed "the harpsichord comes out of hiding…magnificent," thus launching a major career as a recitalist, concerto soloist, and more recently, conductor. His recording of the Poulenc harpsichord concerto was issued in May 2010 with BBC Music Magazine, and he has been featured as a “Hot Property” by Classic FM magazine.

In July of 2011 he played the first solo harpsichord recital in the history of the Proms, selling out London's Cadogan Hall with Bach's Goldberg Variations, and he made a return to the Proms in 2012 with his orchestration of Bach's Art of Fugue for the Academy of Ancient Music. Recent and future highlights include appearances with the Academy of Ancient Music, the Hamburger Sinfoniker, the Prague Symphony chamber concerts, the Istanbul Bach Days, the Hanover Band, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Festival of Flanders at Bruges, Utrecht Oude Muziek, New York’s Frick Collection, and at the major recital halls of Cologne, Vienna, Vancouver, London, Tokyo, and Nagoya. In 2013 he recorded the complete Württemberg Sonatas of C.P.E. Bach for Hyperion Records, as well as a recital disc of Byrd, Bach, and Ligeti for Wigmore Hall Live.

Esfahani studied as a President’s Scholar at Stanford University under the guidance of the musicologist George Houle; later he went on to study harpsichord and organ with Peter Watchorn and Lorenzo Ghielmi. He currently benefits from the teaching and advice of the celebrated Czech harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková. He was for three years Artist-in-Residence at New College, Oxford, and now makes his home in London.

PROGRAMME:

Tarquinio Merula
Toccata del Secondo Tono
Capriccio Chromatico

Girolamo Frescobaldi
Toccata Terza
Capriccio Quinto sopra la Bassa Fiamenga
Balletto Secondo - Ciaccona
Cento partite sopra passacagli

Bernardo Storace
Recercar
Balletto
Ciaccona

Johann Kuhnau
"La Melancholia di Saul trastullato per mezzo della musica di Davide"

Alessandro Scarlatti
Variazioni sopra la Follia

TICKETS
Ticket price: €10
BOX OFFICE: Tel. 7000-9304 (daily 9.30-11.30am) / www.pharostickets.org
KYRIAKOU FULLPAGE BOOKSHOPS: 30 Ellados Ave., 8020 Paphos, Tel. 26822850

Announcement
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