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...

Res Gestae: The Stony Brook School Yearbook 1955 records a rectal by Jorge at his old high school on Long Island (Class of 1934) on 14 October with a well-meaning but less than flattering entry: 'Jorge Bolet, Cuba's answer to Liberace, gives dazzling performance; but even more dazzling are the thirty-eight Knoxers.' The reference is to The Knox School (female boarding and day school on the north shore of Long Island), whose students presumably also attended the recital. On

The great Austrian pianist, Alfred Brendel died at his home in Hampstead, north London on 17 June 2025. I was privileged to hear him many...

Jorge Bolet, Hong Kong (March 1987). Two clippings from the South China Morning Post.

RARE VIDEO: Jorge Bolet plays Liszt in Atlanta. The first six minutes of Liszt, Harmonies poétiques et réligieuses, S.173: Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude, filmed by Frank Bell, Georgia-Pacific Center Auditorium, Atlanta, Georgia, 20 April 1987. I've uploaded this extract from the 2DVD set, details of which seem to have disappeared online. I will take it down, if it is felt this infringes copyright (this extract is not "public" on YouTube but "unlisted", the link being

Bolet Played the Piano—and Not Gently A tongue-in-cheek review from De Volk 9.5.1935. I include the Dutch below: though this ChatGPT translation flows well and idiomatically, it may miss things. Critics are lazy creatures. If you don’t keep them busy, they are quite capable of spending a quiet evening at home. And naturally: that’s not what critics are for. So we can do no less than congratulate Dr. De Koos on his brilliant idea to use the one evening that the Dutch Music Fe

Check the relevant page for more detail on the orchestral concert on Thursday 22nd. On Tuesday 27 October, Die Burger reported on Saturday evening's recital at Green Point, when Jorge played Beethoven's Sonata No.31 in A flat, Op.110 and the Liszt Transcendental Etudes. ​ 'Bolet's musical gifts command the highest respect. He has technical finger skills that are strongly reminiscent of Horowitz, and he has the appearance, muscular strength and endurance of a Springbok rugby

Musical America , February 1950 notes that Jorge will have Ludwig Lustig (of Ludwig Lustig Artists' Management) as his personal...

Jorge Bolet, September 1975, Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires. (Newly added to website) After Brazil, Jorge played in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Diario Crónica 26 September 1975 announces that at 9:30pm that evening, Friday, Sociedad de Conciertos de Buenos Aires 'presents the sensational pianist in a “marathon programme” of Bach/Busoni, Chopin, Strauss and Wagner-Liszt. The venue is the Teatro Coliseo (on Marcelo T. de Alvear 1125) in the Retiro neighbourhood. (The Coliseo

A very incomplete list. Feel free to add to it, using the Contact page. Jacobs School of Music, Bloomington, Indiana Francisco Rennó (Brazil) Gary Thor Wedow Glenn Winters (1970-76) Ira (Philip) Levin (1976) Andrzej Ratusiński (Starachowice, Poland) Curtis Institute, Philadelphia Meng-Chieh Liu (Kaohsiung, Taiwan) Ira (Philip) Levin (1977- ) Ju Hee Suh (Seoul, South Korea) Makoto Ueno (Japan) see here Thomas Sauer (USA) see here Anthony Padilla Graydon Goldsby Wonmi Kim (Sou

Red Rocks Festival of Music, August 1955