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Idil Biret (born 21 November 1941 in Ankara, Turkey) is a Turkish concert pianist, renowned for her outstanding interpretations of the Romantic repertoire.Biret began her lessons at the age of five with Mithat Fenmen, who had studied under Nadia Boulanger and Alfred Cortot. When she was seven, the Turkish parliament passed a special law which enabled her to study abroad, studying at the Paris Conservatory in France under the tutelage of Nadia Boulanger.
Idil Biret also credits Madeleine de Valmalète for having introduced her to
composers such as Brahms, whose complete works she would later record.
She graduated with three prizes at the age of 15. She continued her
education with Alfred Cortot and Wilhelm Kempff.
From the age of 16, Biret played as a soloist with the most
distinguished orchestras in the world including the London Symphony,
the Philharmonia, the London Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the
Leningrad Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Dresden
Staatskapelle, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Tokyo
Philharmonic, [the Warsaw Philharmonic], the National Orchestra of
France and the Sydney Symphony. She collaborated with the eminent
conductors such as Hermann Scherchen, Pierre Monteux, Erich Leinsdorf,
Rudolf Kempe, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Aaron Copland, Rafael Frühbeck de
Burgos, Charles Mackerras, Jean Fournet, Moshe Atzmon, [Antoni Wit] and
Hiroyuki Iwaki. Biret also gave concerts at the festivals of Berlin,
Montreal, Istanbul, Dubrovnik, Montpellier, Nohant, Persepolis, Royan
and Athens.
Idil Biret has been a jury member at several piano competitions: Van Cliburn
(USA), Queen Elisabeth (Belgium), Montreal (Canada), Liszt (Weimar,
Germany) and Busoni (Italy).
In September, 2006 a biography book named “Idil Biret-Une Pianiste
Turque en France” was written by a French author, Prof. Dominique
Xardel and published by Buchet/Chastel in France. The book has been
recently translated into Turkish and published by Can Yayinlari. The
German translation of the book has been published by Staccato Verlag in
September 2007.
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