Cellist Mathias Donderer has kindly provided some photos - for the moment here is one. “They were taken during our tour with Jorge Bolet in 1986 and in Berlin when recording Schumann and Grieg with Chailly for DECCA.” The photographer was Wilhelm Fröling. More to follow.

Jorge Bolet: not Hungarian enough! Okay, the title might be what is known as clickbait , but I've been amused by this diary entry by a Hungarian who heard Jorge play some Liszt in 1981. She found the lassú (slow) part of the csárdás too slow. 31 March 1981, Bishopsgate Hall, London: lunchtime recital. Since opening on New Year's Day 1895, the Bishopsgate Institute has been a centre for culture and learning. The Great Hall, in particular, was erected for the benefit of the p

25/26 (?) January 1968, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto in the Teatro Real, Madrid with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and the Orquesta Nacional de España. "Pines of Rome" by Respighi and a work by Óscar Esplá (1886-1976). ​ 'The Cuban pianist Jorge Bolet possesses the technique of a great virtuoso, demonstrated time and again in both the mechanical capacity and the possibilities of power ( demostrada una y otra veztanto en la capacidad mecánica como en las posibilidades de potencia

Jorge Bolet "Claire de Lune" I recently came upon this gem from Larry Yungk's YouTube Channel (he has been an occasional but very fine source of JB information over the many years of this website). It's been online for 12 years but I knew nothing about it. I'm now ashamed to say -also - that I never spotted it on the Marston 6 CD set, or if I did, I don't recall. Christian Johansson's website on pianists has given some background. He suggests. a date of 1980: University o

The pianist David Wilde died on 23 October 2025. Although I never met him, I owe a great deal to him (as the video explains). See also this blog entry David Wilde, ‘magnificently berserk’ pianist and composer of The Cellist of Sarajevo Billed as ‘the 10-year-old Boy Prodigy’, he performed the Grieg Concerto at Blackpool, and broadcast it that year on the BBC Telegraph Obituaries 12 November 2025 ​David Wilde, who has died aged 90, was a thoughtful and dazzling pianist, thou

Jorge Bolet by Alan West-Durán: "Pianista luminoso" For those who read Spanish (or can use Google Translate), here is an unusually full article on Jorge Bolet by Alan West-Durán (La Habana, 1953), a Cuban poet, essayigst, translator and critic. He is a Profesor at Northeastern University (Boston). It's nice to read what a Cuban thinks of his compatriot. https://rialta.org/jorge-bolet-pianista-luminoso/ "Cuban musician Jorge Bolet achieved a unique and recognizable style. His

Jorge Bolet and The Devil, 1964: the video will explain! In late October and November, Bolet made a tour of South Africa (spring in the southern hemisphere). Impresario Hans Adler told the Johannesburg Sunday Times in November 1962 that negotiations for the tour were already under way. This tour would also include a recital in Windhoek, formerly South West Africa, now Namibia)​​​. See South Africa page for more details

Jorge Bolet, Vienna, 23 May 1935 "But even in Cuba, they are aware of the secrets of Beethoven's style. This was demonstrated by the young, exceptionally charming southerner Jorge Bolet, whose "Appassionata" displayed such maturity, inner serenity, dazzling technique, and nuanced touch..." Die Wiener Tag (7 July) The artist proved himself a refined musician. A clear, well-developed technique – only the fortissimo attack was a little dry – provided the foundation for a per

​ On 6 March 1983, Gilels performed in London's Royal Festival Hall: Brahms Variations on a Theme by Paganini Opus 35 (Book 1); Fantasias Opus 116Schumann 4 Klavierstücke Opus 32; Symphonic Studies Opus 13 Jorge was in London to record Liszt's Années de pèlerinage: Suisse S160 during 8-11 March 1983 in Kingsway Hall, which would constitute volume 5 of his Liszt series for Decca. Peter Wadland, JB's producer for DECCA, remembers Bolet & Russian pianist Emil Gilels (1916

New website (link): Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995)

As if it is not enough to maintain a website on Jorge Bolet, I've recently begun another on Italian legend Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli....

Sunday, 21 October 1956, Åmål in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. Svenska Dagbladet says 'the famous American will visit the Music Circle of the School ( Läroverk ) here today'. The same newspaper report on 31 December 1960 the following: 'Mr Bolet suddenly showed himself to be very familiar with Åmål. He simply loved the little town. A few years ago he went there to give a concert. He came a day early. Therefore no one was down to meet him at the railway station. The plac

9 December 1955, Copenhagen, small hall of the Odd Fellow Palace. Berlingske Tidende , a Danish newspaper, first published on 3 January, reported: 'The Great Cuban. Jorge Bolet, who played Beethoven at the last Royal Chapel concert, is a piano virtuoso. This can be said without any hidden disdain, let alone indignation. The joy of effortless mastery of an instrument is an essential feature of all healthy musicality. And how could one reproach a musician for having created th

After his two month tour of Australia, Jorge gave a recital for the first time in Hong Kong, on 6 July 1965. 'Jorge Bolet - mark that...

A summary of JB's four appearances with The Cleveland Orchestra. 14 November 1944, Civic Auditorium, Grand Rapids, Michigan. This was...

Santos Ojeda (January 18, 1917 – May 27, 2004) was a Cuban-born American classical pianist and pedagogue. His early years remind me of...

My first thought was that Jorge Bolet was teaching a young John McEnroe, later an international tennis player! Does anyone know who the...

1 February 1982, Hamman Hall, Rice University, Houston, Texas. Fantasy in F-sharp minor, op. 28 / Felix Mendelssohn -- Fantasy in C major, op. 17 / Robert Schumann -- Five Lieder/ Franz Schubert ; transcribed by Franz Liszt -- Mephisto Waltz / Franz Liszt. LINK to recording He played the same programme on 8 February 1982: Van Wezel Auditorium, Sarasota, Florida. Recital includes Schumann's Fantasy , 5 Schubert/Liszt Lieder and the Mephisto waltz. 'His fingers are made of

I'd always been surprised not to find that Jorge had played in Montevideo, only a short hop across the water from Buenos Aires. I've now found two concerts: July 1979 and June 1982 La Semana de El Día N° 51 (29 December 1979), under the heading "Pianist of the Year (in recital)" reported: 'This North American pianist was a revelation, a giant of the keyboard, whom our audience watched in awe, in a unique, legendary Liszt recital on July 10 at the Teatro Solís. With superhum

In a BBC television interview in 1968, Bernard Levin asked Rubinstein if it helped for the audience to have a technical knowledge of the...