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Jorge Bolet in Latin America 1936-58
This list does not include Cuba. See also 1974-84 In El Caribe (12.11.1981), Lamela Geler stated that Jorge visited Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) in the early 1950s and played in the Teatro Olimpia, under the auspices of Sociedad Pro Arte. Now he gives a second recital in Santo Domingo. She goes on to state: 'Conocido mayormente en Europa y los Estados Unidos, ya que sus incursiones en América Latina han sido escasas, su repertorio está constituido por el total del ma
Blue Pumpkin
48 minutes ago4 min read


Jorge in Latin America 1974-1984
This list does not include Cuba. See also 1936-58 1974 In late 1974, Jorge was one of the judges on the Concurso Latinoamericano de Piano Teresa Carreño in Caracas, Venezuela. He made a number of concert appearances in Caracas. 1975 17 September 1975 São Paulo, Brazil Recital 19 and 21 September 1975 Teatro Municipal de São Paulo, Brazil Rachmaninoff's Paganini Variations OSESP (Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo) under Gerard Devos 23 September 1975 [?] Rio de Ja
Blue Pumpkin
1 hour ago5 min read
Mozart/Liszt, Telemann/Reger
My trawl through Jorge Bolet's concerts has clarified a number of issues. It looks as if it was in the mid-1970s that he introduced two new and substantial works to his repertoire. I could have missed earlier mentions but it may be that someone can explain how he came to these two works, especially the Reger which has high rarity value. 29 September 1975 Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires (Argentina) incl.Chopin's Sonata No. 3 in B minor Op.58 and the Mozart/Liszt Don Juan Fantas
Blue Pumpkin
6 days ago1 min read


Jorge Bolet début in Toronto
The Mail & Globe, Toronto (April 1975) 17 April 1975; Eaton Auditorium, Toronto, Canada. [JB's Toronto recital début] Mendelssohn, Chopin, Sonata No.3, Liszt Petrarch + Tannhäuser 'When you consider, he's been playing professionally for more than 40 years, he seems to have taken his time getting up here. But then, as he says "I've been a long time arriving everywhere."'
Blue Pumpkin
7 days ago1 min read
Alberti bass
In noting down that Jorge Bolet gave summer masterclasses at Indiana during 17-21 June, 1974, I recalled a witty remark from the transcript of one masterclass - not necessarily at Indiana - where he emphasised that the melody must always be brought out (something he always demonstrated in his own playing). He said something like: "I have given hundreds of concerts, and I've never known anyone to pay the price of admission to hear an Alberti bass."
Blue Pumpkin
Apr 211 min read
Jorge Bolet and the Gates of Hell
There's a bit of drudgery leafing through masses of newspaper reviews, but it's worth it when you come across a jewel like this. 31 January 1971 (Sunday, 3pm) Fair Lawn High School, Fair Lawn, New Jersey, USA Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.31 in A-flat major, Op.110 Liszt: 12 Études d’exécution transcendante, S.139: 7. Eroica, 5. Feux Follets, 9. Ricordanza, 8. Wilde Jagd Chopin: 24 Preludes, Op.28 Encores: Schumann/Liszt: Widmung, Op.25 No.1 (S.566), Chopin: Waltz in D-flat majo
Blue Pumpkin
Apr 141 min read


Australian reviews 1965
Jorge Bolet in the Syndey Morning Herald and The Age
Blue Pumpkin
Apr 91 min read


Garden Party for a Steinway and Jorge Bolet
The Columbus Ledger (Georgia) devotes at least five articles to Jorge in October 1961
Blue Pumpkin
Apr 41 min read


Big break 1938
Check out this page
Blue Pumpkin
Apr 11 min read


Pianist Receives a “Strong” Welcome
Pianist Jorge Bolet Receives a “Strong” Welcome "A visiting pianist at Joint Senior High School expected polite applause and perhaps a wilted corsage. Instead, he was met by the school’s human brick wall: the school’s impressively built football team, captained by Buck “Brick” Donovan—owner of a jaw you could sharpen pencils on, shoulders that apparently require their own postcode, and a varsity sweater clinging on for dear life. His grin? Bright enough to make the stage ligh
Blue Pumpkin
Apr 12 min read


Jorge Bolet in New Zealand/Aotearoa
I've added some reviews from Jorge's New Zealand tour of 1964 to the relevant page. Here are some clippings from the Evening Post .
Blue Pumpkin
Mar 301 min read


Jorge Bolet, Berlin: 8 June 1989
Jorge in cheerful mood entering the green room in the Philharmonie, Berlin before what turned out to be his last recital. (Photo: Mattheus Smits)
Blue Pumpkin
Mar 251 min read


Australian interview (Jorge Bolet)
The Age (Melbourne, Australia), 28 February 1987
Blue Pumpkin
Feb 241 min read


January 1985 London
Two reviews of the first Jorge Bolet concert I ever heard. At that time, I travelled up from Oxford for the evening and went backstage (of course) afterwards. I remembered being surprised to see him smoking (!) and he had a huge black overcoat/cape lying on a table, every inch the dapper gentleman from a past age.
Blue Pumpkin
Feb 181 min read


Jorge Bolet speaking about Paavo Berglund
I hadn't realised Jorge Bolet had performed in Finland and while looking into it, I came across a film from Finnish television. Here he is in the Royal Albert Hall, London, 1 June 1978, before a performance of Liszt - speaking about Finnish conductor Paavo Berglund, whom he first met during his first tour of Australia in 1965. (YLE, Finnish Broadcasting Company, 1979) So this is Jorge one year after he was appointed Head of Curtis and after he recorded his first disc with Dec
Blue Pumpkin
Feb 131 min read
Puzzling: who was the conductor?
On 30 June 1969, Jorge Bolet gave a performance at Bloomington, Indiana, where he had just started teaching. He played Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30. Ralph Vaughan William's glorious Symphony No. 5 in D major was the other item on the programme. On the Palexa CD that came out, Charles Webb is assumed to be the conductor. Several discographies list him as being on the podium. However, The Indianapolis Star (25.6.1969) mentions that the conductor will
Blue Pumpkin
Feb 131 min read
75th Birthday Recital missed
"Jorge had in mind to play Godowsky's Johann Strauss Künstlerleben at his forthcoming 75th birthday tour as grande finale. Jorge played this piece on several occasions for me telling me: this is a work in progress, no! a lot of work in progress! He had played a lot of Godowsky for me when I was staying with him in Bloomington. We went to Butler University where he kept his scores and could use his Baldwin SD 10 (in his apartment he had a small grand which he never touched).
Blue Pumpkin
Feb 101 min read


Concertography
New and very much "work in progress", a list of as many concerts of Jorge Bolet as I can find, 1926-1989. It's not a definitive list (that would be a tedious task), but hey...! In order to "clean up" the narrative pages of this website, I shall gradually delete a number of the concerts for which I have not included a review or interesting detail; thus, the Concertography pages will be the fullest account of Jorge's activity (though inevitably not complete - that would be a t
Blue Pumpkin
Feb 81 min read


Jorge Bolet's pet hates
A newspaper amusingly reported a few of the pianist's pet hates: playing strange pianos, especially upright pianos in high schools, non-mixing bathroom taps (faucets), Rossini, peanut butter, mint in any form including toothpaste, Berlioz. The High Point Enterprise, North Carolina, 24 February 1954 Full disclosure: I like both Rossini and Berlioz. Mattheus Smits, a friend of JB, has told me: "Jorge knew the translation of 'onions' in many languages. When ordering meals in G
Blue Pumpkin
Feb 61 min read


Prokofiev: Jorge Bolet's first performance
10 January 1950 Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16 New Orleans Symphony & Massimo Freccia Jorge Bolet's first public performance of the concerto, in an interview with the Times-Picayune (10.1.1950). He had heard it a few years ago, played by Abbey Simon and had rushed out to buy the score but found to his dismay that it was out of print. Simon had photostats of it form The New York Public Library, obtained at consi
Blue Pumpkin
Feb 21 min read
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