‘Ever since I was little, Johann Sebastian Bach has meant “music” to me. My mother always played the first and second book of preludes from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier at home. The first time I met my teacher Mithat Fenmen in 1946, I played some of these pieces for him by ear. When the lessons started, it became a source of pleasure for me to work with him. Sometimes, as a reward, he made me listen to Bach’s works. One of the most memorable performances was Edwin Fischer’s, the 12th Prelude and Fugue, in F minor, from Book II. I had listened to the 78 rpm record after a lesson and was fascinated by this work. When I came home, I was able to play the prelude from memory, but although I could hear the different sounds of the fugue in my head, I could not play it well with my technique at the time.’

Idil Biret embarked on her career as a soloist at the age of sixteen appearing with major orchestras in the principal music centres of the world like Boston Symphony, Leningrad Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic in collaboration with conductors of greatest distinction such as Erich Leinsdorf, Pierre Monteux, Hermann Scherchen, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Kazimierz Kord, Antoni Wit.

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.