Ramin Bahrami

Pianist Ramin Bahrami has devoted the bulk of his concert programs and discography to the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, approaching the scores in a conventional keyboard style that shows scant trace of period-instrument conventions. Born in Tehran in 1976, he endured the imprisonment and execution of his father following the overthrow of the Shah by Iran’s fundamentalist regime, after which he escaped the country alongside his mother and brothers and resettled in Italy. His formal training unfolded at the Milan Conservatory, the Accademia Pianistica “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola, and the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart, where he studied with Wolfgang Bloser. He participated in master classes led by Alexis Weissenberg, András Schiff, and Rosalyn Tureck; the last of these Bach authorities left a profound mark, which Bahrami acknowledged in 1999 by organizing a series of recitals titled “Evening of Honor for Rosalyn Tureck” across several cities. He first appeared on stage at the Teatro Bellini in Catania in 1998 and toured Mexico later the same year. Although his programs remain centered on Bach, he has also performed works by Mozart and Beethoven and extended his reach as far as Hans Werner Henze. Bahrami has appeared in Italy’s principal venues and undertaken multiple international tours, among them a 2018 journey through Asia, and he has published three books devoted to Bach’s music. For Decca he recorded the Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, in 2004 and has since issued all subsequent releases on that label, aside from a 13-CD retrospective issued by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra that attests to his domestic following. Every Decca album has likewise focused on Bach, among them The Colours of Bach (2019). In 2020 he posted an online performance of Domenico Scarlatti’s Keyboard Sonata in D minor, K. 32, an effort that may foreshadow a future complete recording of the sonatas.