Idil Biret
Idil Biret, a piano prodigy, was born in Ankara, Turkey, and at seven was sent to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger. She has received the Lili Boulanger Memorial Award in Boston, the Harriet Cohen / Dinu Lipatti
Gold Medal in London, the Polish Cavalry Cross of the Order of Merit,
the Adelaide Ristori Prize in Italy, the French Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite and the State Artist distinction in Turkey. She has an uncanny ability to play the same musical passage imitating the compositional styles of, say, Beethoven, Mozart, and Debussy. On occasion this highly trained classical pianist plays keyboard in her brother-in-law’s rock and roll band in Istanbul.
By this author
IDIL BIRET
Life & Music: A Memoir
Idil Biret
Idil Biret’s memoir is an important historical record of this extraordinary Turkish pianist prodigy who began playing at the age of three. At eight she commenced study at the Paris Conservatoire under the guidance of Nadia Boulanger. At sixteen she appeared with major orchestras in the principal music centers of the world―the Boston Symphony, Leningrad Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Symphony and Warsaw Philharmonic.
Her moving prose reveals a consummate musician who is intellectually brilliant, humanely sensitive, and spiritually inquisitive. Certainly one of the most gifted pianists of this century or the last, her memoir will be a deep pleasure for lovers of memoir and music alike.
$34.99