İdil Biret facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
İdil Biret
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İdil Biret at Küçükçekmece, İstanbul in 2012
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| Background information | |
| Born | November 21, 1941 Ankara, Turkey |
| Genres | Classical music |
| Occupation(s) | Concert pianist |
| Instruments | Piano |
İdil Biret (born November 21, 1941) is a famous Turkish pianist. She is known around the world for her amazing talent in playing the piano. She has performed with many top orchestras and conductors.
Contents
Early Life and Education
İdil Biret showed a love for music very early. She started playing the piano at just two years old! By age four, she was already playing pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach.
When she was five, she began lessons with Mithat Fenmen. He was a student of famous musicians like Nadia Boulanger.
At age seven, something special happened. The Turkish government passed a law just for her. This law allowed her to study music in France. She went to the Paris Conservatory, a very famous music school. There, she learned from Nadia Boulanger and Jean Doyen.
İdil Biret was a brilliant student. She graduated from the conservatory at only 15 years old. She won three important prizes! After that, she continued to learn from other great pianists like Alfred Cortot and Wilhelm Kempff.
Musical Journey
From the age of 16, İdil Biret started playing as a solo artist. She performed with many of the world's best orchestras. These included the London Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She also played with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
She worked with many famous conductors. Some of them were Pierre Monteux, Erich Leinsdorf, and Aaron Copland. She also performed at big music festivals around the world. These festivals were in cities like Berlin, Montreal, and Istanbul.
A memorable concert happened in Boston, USA, on November 22, 1963. Just before she was to play, the audience heard shocking news. The President of the United States had been attacked. Despite the sadness, İdil Biret still performed.
İdil Biret has also been a judge at many piano competitions. These include the Van Cliburn competition in the US and the Queen Elisabeth competition in Belgium.
Recordings and Achievements
İdil Biret has made over 100 recordings. These recordings are on well-known music labels like EMI and Naxos. She has recorded many important classical pieces.
She recorded all of Franz Liszt's piano versions of the nine Beethoven symphonies. She also recorded all the solo piano works and concertos by Frédéric Chopin and Johannes Brahms. Her recordings of Sergei Rachmaninoff are also very popular.
Her Chopin recordings won a special award in Poland in 1995. It was called the 'Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin'. In 2004, her Naxos CDs sold two million copies worldwide. Naxos gave her a special platinum disc to celebrate this.
She has played all of Beethoven's piano sonatas and concertos in public concerts. She is also the first pianist to record all of them. This huge collection includes 19 CDs.
Awards and Recognition
İdil Biret has received many awards for her musical contributions.
Since 1971, she has been a State Artist in Turkey. This is a special honor given by the government. It recognizes artists who have greatly helped Turkish culture.
In 1995, her recordings of Chopin's music won the "Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin" in Poland. In the same year, she won the "Diapason d'Or" prize in France. This was for her recording of Pierre Boulez's sonatas.
She also received the Lili Boulanger Memorial Prize in Boston. She got the Harriet Cohen/Dinu Lipatti Gold Medal in London. Poland gave her a prize for her artistic merits. France awarded her the National Knight Merit Order.
In 2007, the Polish President Lech Kaczynski honored her. She received the Distinguished Service Order – Cavalry Cross. This was for her work in sharing Polish culture through Chopin's music.
Images for kids
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İdil Biret at Küçükçekmece, İstanbul in 2012
See also
In Spanish: İdil Biret para niños
