Pianist Charles Rosen (b.927) recalls… At age 11 he left Juilliard to study piano with Moriz Rosenthal (1862-1946) and with Rosenthal's wife, Hedwig Kanner. They had settled in New York from Austria in 1938, following the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. (Peter Sühring suggests they left in 1936. “The Rosenthals emigrated to the USA relatively early; many of their Jewish colleagues did not do so until 1938 following the Anschluss.”) Rosenthal studied with

28 February 1936 (Jorge Bolet age 21) Salón Novedades, Pamplona, Navarra (Spain) Recital incl. Chopin's Sonata No. 3, Beethoven, other works of Chopin, de Falla, Rachmaninoff. ​​ La Voz de Navarra (26.2.1936) mentions that in Vienna Julius Isserlis (1888 – 1968), a pianist and composer born in Kishinev, Russian Empire (now Chișinău, Republic of Moldova), had marvelled at Bolet's phenomenal technique, his powerful and beautiful touch, captivating rhythm, and his impeccable p

Jorge replaced an indisposed Claudio Arrau sometime in April 1983 but I cannot fit it into the chronology yet. Bonn, West Germany: Beethoven Spring Festival, April 1983 Claudio Arrau was born on 6 February, 1903, in Chillán, Chile celebrated his 80th birthday in 1983. Dieter Schüren wrote in Die Welt (28 April 1983): 'Because the 80-year-old Claudio Arrau suddenly withdrew from the Bonn Beethoven Festival, the spring cycle began a day late and with Jorge Bolet at the piano a

It's odd how I suddenly get "a bee in my bonnet" about issues I hadn't really considered before. One of them is Jorge's relationship with Abram Chasins (1903-1987), to which I have turned again after reading something by Jonathan Summers in his notes for the recent First Hand Records CD release of Bolet's Ambassador Auditorium recitals. (I also hadn't fully appreciated AC's Curtis connections before.) 'After Bolet gave a Carnegie Hall recital in 1951 [3 April] critic Howard

A fellow student in the same year as Jorge Bolet (1927) was Sidney Foster (born in Florence, South Carolina, in 1917) who was aged 10, the youngest student Curtis ever took. (In 1968 Foster, a Professor at Indiana School of Music 1952-77, was to coax Bolet there from Spain as a teaching colleague.) Imelda Delgado in a book on Foster relates a shocking event in which in 1929 the young Sidney was dismissed from Curtis for being a "bad boy", though it later turned out that i

'I played for Bolet in Sydney when he was on tour (1969 or 70): Chopin's fourth ballade. He was very complimentary. When I asked him, do you play much Beethoven, he answered "You don't have to play Beethoven to be a good pianist". Then he proceeded to play me some Chopin-Godowsky....a lovely man.'

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

"He knew he had to take the stage, to stride up to that huge instrument and take command. 'Remember,' he'd say, 'it's likely to kick back." Andrei Svetlichny, Boston Globe, September 1982 As ever, I am grateful to Mattheus Smits for providing information to this website. He has alerted my attention to this tribute (edited) to Jorge Bolet's tuner in the USA. A Memorial Died April 12, 1998 • Born February 19, 1957 Andrei Svetlichny, 41 Tuner of Concert Pianos for the Stars By

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."'

Jorge's masterclass in Edinburgh (early 1980s). "If my memory is correct, the masterclass took place in a school next to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Arboretum Road. Left from Jorge can be seen Elisabeth Kittel, right from Jorge you can see me [Mattheus Smits]; the small group at my right is of some of the students. If I am not mistaken, the student on my right-hand side is Santiago Rodriquez who became an important pianist." Photo: Mattheus Smits Elisabeth Kittel (1925-2020

The Age (Melbourne, Australia), 28 February 1987

Ian Hominick, Professor of Music, University of Mississippi is due to publish a biography of legendary American pianist Earl Wild in October 2026. Professor Hominick began studying piano in his native Nova Scotia and continued his studies in the United States under the tutelage of Earl Wild. He earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Ohio State University in 1991 where he served as assistant to Wild. Jorge Bolet and Earl Wild had some interaction so it will be interesti

Lookee here! Just arrived. Antonio Armella's chronology of pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (December 2025). 491 pages (independently printed by Amazon), on good paper with clear printing. I had wondered what the quality would be like, but this looks excellent. The minus point is that I don't read Italian; the plus point is that it's a resource, not a book to read from cover to cover and with my knowledge of Latin and romance languages + Google Translate, it should be

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 by Alan West-Durán: "Pianista luminoso" For those who read Spanish (or can use Google Translate), here is an unusually full article on Jorge Bolet by Alan West-Durán (La Habana, 1953), a Cuban poet, essayigst, translator and critic. He is a Profesor at Northeastern University (Boston). It's nice to read what a Cuban thinks of his compatriot. https://rialta.org/jorge-bolet-pianista-luminoso/ "Cuban musician Jorge Bolet achieved a unique and recognizable style. His

​ 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

New website (link): Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995)

Santos Ojeda (January 18, 1917 – May 27, 2004) was a Cuban-born American classical pianist and pedagogue. His early years remind me of...

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