After leaving music conservatory [in Utrecht], I continued my piano studies in 1972 with the Dutch pianist Mr. Johan Ligtelijn, who had studied with the Liszt student, Frederic Lamond (who taught for some years in Holland) and with Walter Gieseking. Mr. Ligtelijn told me the Marx concerto was the best new concerto Gieseking had laid his hands upon. Gieseking played many new concerti: Pfitzner, Petrassi, Trapp and of course the two works by Marx. (I regret he never played t

I'm not just a fan of Jorge Bolet. Another great interest is Alfred Brendel, who today on 5 January 2025 is celebrating his 94th...

A name you don't hear in Jorge's usual biography! Jorge had begun piano lessons with sister Maria. (He said in an interview in 1943 that he was seven years old at the time.). At age four, he had been attacking the piano keys so enthusiastically that one day he literally broke a hammer. 'After that he was consigned to an imaginary keyboard—specifically, the living room sofa—and his cherished pastime was banging out scales and octaves on a slab of overstuffed mohair, supplyi

What better way to end 2024 - at least in the musical world of Jorge Bolet - than by being reminded (via the words of Donald Manildi in...

A.I. technology is moving on at a rapid pace - I'm amazed at what I'm seeing - and I've produced a series of three new videos with what I...

All Jorge Bolet's recordings for the company from 1977-1990, including Chopin Nocturnes and Berceuse, never before issued, have appeared...

This is very much work-in-progress, but I thought I'd try to gather together all that I know so far about Jorge's performances in South...

On 19 October 1984, in the Filharmonia Narodowa, Warsaw, Jorge Bolet played Liszt. That very evening, Catholic priest and chaplain of Solidarity/Solidarność Jerzy Popiełuszko was murdered by officers of the Security Service. The archives of the Warsaw Philharmonic have this concert down for 19/20 October 1985, but this may an error as Stolica: warszawski tygodnik ilustrowan y, R. 39, 1984 nr 42 [14 X] advertised it on that week of 1984. Although the communists lifted martial

Online Polish newspapers have revealed a few more of their secrets about Bolet's tour in May/June 1961. New cities and dates have been...

Jorge Bolet's recital in Windhoek, South West Africa was actually on 2 February, not 6th, so there is some mixup in his datebook. The Windhoek Advertiser (16.1.76) reported that there was a strong possibility theatre-goes would boycott the recital of the 'Cuban pianist' as they felt strongly about Cuban involvement in Angola 'and seem to resent the fact that a Cuban pianist is going to appear in the Windhoek Theatre. In an interview this morning Dr E Grobbelaar, Director o

In Clarín , 25 July, 1979, Jorge D'Urbano - who had reviewed Jorge's first appearance in Argentina in June 1955 - wrote: 'Jorge Bolet is a virtuoso pianist. This does not mean, in any way, that he lacks musicality. But his specific definition is that of a virtuoso, that is, capable of mastering the piano so completely that everything else fades into the background. He is capable of true pianistic feats, and has to his credit that these seem not to be a process at all, as

Jorge Bolet's only appearance in the fabled opera house in Buenos Aires was on Saturday, 21 July 1979. The programme consisted of Bach/Busoni Ciaccona, Liszt's Sonata in B minor and his Transcendental Études 7, 6, 12, 9 and 8. The Colón was performing an early opera by Verdi, I due Foscari (premièred on Tuesday 17th - it had first been performed there in 1850). The Argentinian paper of record La Nación seems not to have carried a review of JB's recital (so far as I can s

The Piano Files on Patreon has posted a little challenge. Jorge Bolet plays 'In Autumn' in recordings from 1952 and 1987. "To celebrate...

Jorge Bolet recalled by a Spanish friend from a meeting in 1981; I believe the friend to be Ramón Rodamiláns Vellido (Spanish, with English subtitles)

I've been looking at The Rhodesia Herald in the British Library. Quite a hard-hitting, critical review. Having now to get used to reading microfilm, which I've only used a few times before. The Rhodesia Herald (13 February) had a short article expressing surprise that TWO visiting pianists should be giving recitals within 7 days of each other. 'Most promoters would try to avoid such near-clashes if possible.' (Israeli pianist Joseph Kalichstein was the other.) This i

12 & 17 October 1971 Philharmonic Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City. Jorge mentions a brief lapse of memory on the conductor's part, which frightened him. Full details added to the relevant page. Oliver Daniel in his biography of Stokowski has this as taking place in Carnegie Hall (p.866). Bolet mentions that the conductor has a lapse during the first of the two concerts. 'The last movement of the concerto has a middle section which is briefly introduced by the orchestr

Various reports of JB’s South African tours on 1973, 1976 and 1980 from the Afrikaner newspaper Die Transvaler have been added.

Delighted confirm Jorge Bolet DID play in Chile (I had thought he hadn’t) June, 1983 in Chile, with Juan Pablo Izquierdo (born Santiago de Chile, 1935) and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago in the capital's Teatro Municipal. Again in 1984 (also June). Full details added to the relevant page.