Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord

FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 2021 at 8:00 PM (ET)

 

VIRTUAL PROGRAM

The virtuosic and versatile Iranian-American harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani has pursued two primary passions in his career: the compositions of J.S. Bach and contemporary music for the harpsichord. The centerpiece of this beautifully curated program of gems and giants is a work Esfahani calls “Bach’s magnum opus for the keyboard:” the regal, 30-minute Overture in the French Style. Framing it are Bach’s Six Little Preludes, written as teaching pieces, and 20th-century works by Louis Andriessen and Bohuslav Martinů. Andriessen’s dramatic, incantatory overture is a prelude to what the composer describes as “an imaginary opera in which Orpheus plays the leading part.”