İdil Biret

Pianist. born on the 21st of November 1941 in Ankara. Her interest in music started at the age of two. At the age of four she started to play Bach’s preludes. She received her first music lessons from Mithat Fenmen. In 1948 at the age of seven, President İsmet İnönü, made a proposal to TBMM so that Biret is educated abroad. Upon this suggestion “The Act of Wonderful Children” was introduced for children such as İdil Biret and they were sent abroad to study with state scholarship. İdil Biret who was sent to Paris with her family within this act worked with Nadia Boulanger, one of the important pedagogues of 20^th century, in Paris Conservatory. At the age of eight she performed her first concert in Paris Radio. She took lessons from the French pianist Alfred Cortot. The German pianist Wilhelm Kempff who mentioned İdil Biret as his “most valuable student” of all his life continued his musical relationship with her lifelong. As Biret was eleven years old she played Mozart’s “Concerto for Two Pianos” in Paris Champs-Elysees Theatre with Kempff. From time to time she joined “master classes” of Kempff in Positano. She played in the concert organized for Kempff’s 90^th age.

İdil Biret was fifteen years old when she completed Paris National Conservatory in branches of high piano, accompany and chamber music ranking the first. Starting from the age of sixteen she started to appear on various world scenes. She performed her first concert in United States of America at the age of twenty-one. She played in this concert Rachmaninoff’s “Third Piano Concerto” under the leadership of Erich Leinsdorf with Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. She made her first Russia tour upon the call of the pianist Emil Gilels and had great success in this country. During years she performed about hundred concerts in Russia. Biret in her concerts encompassing five continents appeared on the same scene with famous maestros such as Atzmon, Copland, Kempe, Keilberth, Sargent, Monteux, Fournat, Leinsdorf, Pritchard, Scherchen, Rozhdestvensky and Mackerras. She joined festivals of Montreal, Berlin, Montpellier, Nohant, Royan, Dubrovnik, Athens, Ankara and Istanbul. She performed concerts through the whole world with Boston Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Suisse Romande, London Symphony, Leningrad Philarmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Dresden Staatcapelle, Tokyo Philarmonic, Sydney Symphony and Symphonic Orchestra of Presidency.

İdil Biret is jury member in numerous international piano competitions such as Queen Elisabeth (Belgium), Van Cliburn (USA), Busoni (Italy) and Liszt (Germany). She received many awards including Lili-Boulanger (Boston), Harriet Cohen/Dinu Lipatti (London), Cultural Merit of Polish Government and Chevalier de I'Ordre National de Merite of French Government. İdil Biret was honored with the title of “State Artist” in 1971 by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

İdil Biret until today produced about 100 plaques and CDs. Her records she produced for Atlantik and Finnadar in 1960s and 1970s is a spectrum from romantic repertoire to modern composers. The artist in 1980s played the whole of Liszt’s adaptations of Beethoven symphonies for the first time in the history of plaque. Later Frederic Chopin’s all piano works, Johannes Brahms’s all solo piano works and concertos, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s all piano works were recorded by Biret.  These works of her were appreciated by many critics and the artist was called “one of the prominent piano masters of our age”. In 1995 she received the Jury Special Prize in “Chopin Plaques Grand Prix” competition in Warsaw. She received “the Golden Diapason” prize in Paris with her CD including three sonatas of the French composer Pierre Boulez. It was listed in “Le Monde” newspaper as one of the best plaques of 1995. Biret in 1997  played all solo piano works of Brahms due to his 100^th Death Anniversary in a series of five concerts. Besides she recorded in 2002 Ligeti’s etudes. Biret as a pianist has the widest repertoire in the world. Her adaptation of “Fire Bird” of Stravinsky and plaques in which she played the adaptations of her teacher Kempff are important records, as well. Biret in 2007 was honored with Üstün Hizmet Nişanı by the Polish President thanks to her Chopin interpretations. She continued her series of Liszt adaptations of Beethoven symphonies she earlier turned into plaques and played during concerts by recording all concertos and sonatas of the composer in 2000s. In December 2008 “Beethoven edition” which was released on market in five continents is the first complete presentation of the composer’s concertos, sonatas and symphonies. The whole of these series were released under the label of the artist.

The French author Xardel’s book on Biret’s life and opinions titled “İdil Biret-Une pianiste Turque en France” (A Turkish pianist in France İdil Biret) were published in 2006 in France. This book was also published in Turkish in 2007 under the title “Dünya Sahnelerinde Bir Türk Piyanisti: İdil Biret”. Dominique Xardel also wrote a book titled “Pianists” in which İdil Biret took part and in which interviews with various pianists were present. In his new book which is only about İdil Biret he explains the artist’s life, her career and thoughts about many issues. The book was published in Germany in 2007 by Stacatto-Verlag under the title “Idil Biret: Eine Türkischen Pianistin auf den Bühnen der Welt”. Besides there is another book called “Piyanodaki Harika” written by Üner Birkan.

İdil Biret who is deemed as one of the most famous pianists in the world is the owner of numerous awards including 1957 Paris Conservatory Graduation First Rank, 1954 -1964 Lily Boulanger Memorial (USA Boston) and 1961 Harriet Cohen - Dinu Lipatti Gold Medal (London), 2003 Middle East Technical University Honorary PhD (Turkey).