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."'

The Age (Melbourne, Australia), 28 February 1987

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

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

I'm a bit late to this as the article was published in November/December 2014 in International Piano . However... Jeremy Nicholas, who wrote a biography of Godowsky, recalls Jorge Bolet. Here's an extract. Though it would be presumptuous of me to describe him as a friend, I got to know him quite well in the late 1970s. Thereafter, he would invariably phone to tell me when he was in the country and I made sure I saw him after all his UK recitals. One memorable evening, I thi

​ 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

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

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

What about the notes the composer wrote on the page? "I have been criticised for saying something like this; butI still. believe it:...

Very interesting section added, after I found an article by JB in Etude, November 1951. Once you are on your way, artistic abstractions become merged with time schedules and possible emergencies. You can't count on practising. Your pianistic equipment must be in such condition that you can play without practising. The average tour covers about three concerts a week, in different towns, some near each other, some not. You move by train, by bus, by car, by plane. If all goes we

An interview with the Leidsch Dagblad (5 December, 1983) became quite animated. There was a big feature, with Charles van der Leeuw interviewing. 'I played under Eduard van Beinum in Chicago - that man could do the impossible. We played Rachmaninoff third concerto and there was only one rehearsal. The day before he came to me and said he'd like to go through it with me because he'd never conducted the piece before. The performance was as fantastic as one could ever hope to