10 July 1979 Teatro Solís, Montevideo, Uruguay 30th anniversary of SODRE (Servicio Oficial de Difusión, Representaciones y Espectáculos; Official Service for Broadcasting, Performances and Entertainment) in con junction with the Embassy of the USA Liszt's Sonata, Funerailles and his Transcendental Études 7, 6, 12, 9 and 8. (JB's first appearance in the country) ​El País (Montevideo): Inimitable style. He is a gigantic man, and possesses a musical and pianistic talent that is

14 November 1981 Kobacker Hall, Bowling Green State University, Ohio Mendelssohn, Schumann Fantasy, Schubert/Liszt Lieder, Mephisto waltz (as 11 Nov. 1981) ​​ Boris Nelson, in The Toledo Blade 16.11.81: 'Mr Bolet's brilliant playing has been honed to the very edge. His immense, virtuosity, experience, and sheer intelligence all concentrate on the music's lyricism. And being a romantic at heart, he envelops it with a luminous sound that whispers or propels into a sunburst of p

Latest upload on YouTube, always to keep Jorge's name in view

Just occasionally I might mention another pianist, and this evening Monday 4 May 2026 at the Wigmore Hall in London I heard Swiss Italian Francesco Piemontesi (b.1983 Locarno). He played Schubert's Sonata in G Major D894 followed by Liszt's Années de pèlerinage, première année, Suisse S160. I think it is one of the best piano recitals I’ve heard in 40 years of attending concerts. He also treated us to two encores, one of which was beloved of Jorge Bolet: Chopin/Godowsky, Étud

John Crouch, a former Indiana student of JB for 3 years, was interviewed in 1979 (what follows is a mixture of his own words and those of the journalist): 'Bolet is a natural pianist, like a natural athlete. At the peak of what could be called his first career, his manager was scheduling him for 100-120 performances a year, which is one almost every three days. Then, in his mid-50s, Bolet decided to start winding down his performing career and in 1968, accepted a teaching po

Jorge Bolet began his major return to the UK in 1977. Edward Greenfield's review is very complimentary. 17 February 1977, Thursday (he was aged 62) Queen Elizabeth Hall, London Haydn, Sonata in E flat (No.52), Telemann/Reger, Liszt 3 Concert Studies, Don Juan Fantasy Jorge was generous with encores. Chopin: Nocturne in F minor, Op.55 No.1, Moszkowski: La Jongleuse, Op.52 No.4, Chopin/Godowsky: Etude in G-flat major, Op.10 No.5 (Study No.7 in G-flat major), Liszt: Valse-Impro

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

Jorge Bolet in the Syndey Morning Herald and The Age

Jorge Bolet, Hochschule für Musik, Berlin, March 1961. "Only David Oistrakh received the sort of ovation this audience gave Mr Bolet, calling him again and again to the stage for more than half an hour after the concert." ( Tagespiegel 31.3.1961) Of the Liszt festival in Berlin in August/September 1961: Spandauer Volksblatt (5 October 1961), "When something up after the end of the Festival Weeks, Jorge Bolet's piano, recital will remain as one of the strongest assets. He pl

New Zealand's Evening Post (11 March 1961) carries a text by Jorge Bolet on his preparation for the 1960 film (with Dirk Bogarde) ​ When William Goetz, the producer of "Song Without End " first approached me with the idea of portraying musically the great Franz Liszt , I must confess I received the suggestion with mixed feelings. ​ Naturally, I was enthusiastic at the opportunity to play the music of a man who had always been my artistic idol, but the offer had its terrifyi

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 .

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

Hercules Late November 1966 Herkulessaal, Munich Chopin, Ballades; Liszt Sonata, Mephisto Waltz (& encores) Although already 53 years old, Jorge Bolet has only been heard here once before, stepping in for a colleague in an orchestral concert. Now he appeared in the Herkulessaal in his own piano recital, tall, powerful, with a graying mustache. First impression: A gentleman, a caballero. Second: Also a nobleman of pianism. He plays the four Chopin Ballades. Every note that now

I recently found a review of volume 1 of the Liszt series for Decca in a Uruguayan paper which I have added below Opinar (1 July 1982) reports of a concert in Montevideo, Uruguay (Saturday 12 June, in the Teatro Solís) with Brazilian conductor Isaac Karabtchewsky (born 1934) and the Sodre Symphony Orchestra, the national orchestra. 'The great Cuban-American pianist was at the second concert conducted by Karabtchevsky. He belongs to that category of pianists who continue the

This was the first review I read of Jorge Bolet, March 1983 in Gramophone magazine. It was of the first volume of his Liszt series for Decca (the 1978 disc for L'Oiseau-Lyre, a Decca subsidiary notwithstanding). The reviewer was Max Harrison, and his review prompted me to buy the LP in Glasgow's HMV shop, in Union Street.

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

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 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

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...

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