On August 30th Mahan Esfahani performed the world premiere of a new harpsichord concerto titled Lachrimae or 5 Teares by noted Japanese composer Atsuhiko Gondai. Appearing in his debut with the Aichi Chamber Orchestra in Nagoya, who commissioned the concerto, the premiere was conducted by Kazufumi Yamashita.
Atsuhiko Gondai says of the piece: “Lachrimae, or 5 Teares is interspersed with the motif "flowing tear", which consists of four descending notes and has an additional note as a landing and accumulation point, to which the number five in the title refers. The piece is part of a Requiem series that began with my violin concerto Strings between Time & Eternity (2023). While the Violin Concerto is a prayer to God for the eternal rest of the dead, Lachrimae, or 5 Teares is a personal expression of inner feelings, with emotions and tears flowing from the tips of the harpsichordist's ten fingers.”
Mahan Esfahani has built a very strong reputation in commissioning and performing new works for harpsichord, and this new commission joins the increasing list of concertos he has premiered, including those by Bent Sorensen, Poul Ruders, Daniel Kidane, Elena Kats-Chernin, Gary Carpenter and Gavin Bryars. This week he will perform the Japanese premiere of the concerto by Miroslav Srnka with the Yomiuri-Nippon Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maxim Emelyanychev, a piece he originally premiered with the Gurzenich Symphony in Cologne as part of his season-long residence with the orchestra in 2022/23.
