İdil Biret ends concert marathon

On June 2, Biret played works by Gabriel Faure, Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinski, Maurice Ravel and Sergei Prokofiev at Bosphorus University, while the speaker before the concert was Aydın Büke. On June 5 she performed works by Franz Schubert and Franz Liszt at the Süreyya Opera following an introduction by Can Çakmur.

During the last performance on June 8, she performed works by Sebastian Bach following presentations by Filiz Ali. 

Due to her contributions to Polish culture with records of all of Chopin’s works and concerts, Biret was presented with Poland’s highest Legion of Merit in 2007. Besides this award, she was presented with the Golden Diapason and Frederic Chopin Disc Grand awards.

Biret was recently featured in Ali’s article in Musician Portraits (Yapı Kredi Publishing House) and Dominique Xardel’s “Une pianiste turque en France.” 

In 2002, Biret began to publish her records with the name Biret Archive – IBA, which features a 15-CD album, “İdil Biret / 20th Century Piano Edition,” which consists of works by famous composers.

Born in 1941, Biret is one of Turkey’s most successful exports and was awarded with the title of State Artist in 1971. Biret performed at concert halls in France as early as the age of 11. For more than half a century, the pianist has played with some of the most famous orchestras in the world, including the London Philharmonic and Lenin Philharmonic.