Idil Biret, born in Ankara in 1941, studied at the Paris Conservatory with Alfred Cortot (piano) and Nadia Boulanger (composition). She was later a master student of Wilhelm Kempff. Her extremely active concert activity has already taken her to the most important international music centres and to the greatest orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Orchestre National de France, as well as to famous conductors (Leinsdorf, Keilberth, Kempe) and chamber music partners (Menuhin). Idil Biret was a jury member at numerous competitions, including the Van Cliburn Competition and Concours de Reine Elisabeth. She was also a jury member at the First Carl Bechstein Piano Competition Ruhr 2006 and often performed on Bechstein, including at the Philharmonie Essen. Furthermore, Idil Biret can look back on an extremely large discography: She has recorded all the solo piano works of Brahms, Chopin and Rachmaninov, among others, and has received numerous prizes for her recordings, such as the Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin in 1995 for her complete recording of Chopin.
Photo: © C. Bechstein Archiv
