Thomas Sauer, a professional musician who is also on the music faculty of Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, New York) and of the Mannes School of Music (NYC), has generously offered some memories of his time with JB at Curtis. Thomas Sauer's personal website link The first thing to note is that I arrived at Curtis at age 16 with a limited repertoire, having played the piano for seven years. In other words, very green. In no way was I deserving of a place in Mr. Bolet's studio.

Brazilian/American pianist Francisco Rennó, a student of Bolet at Bloomington, Indiana, wrote to me c.10 years ago, and I've always enjoyed his letter. ‘I first met Jorge Bolet in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1974 at the Teresa Carreño International Piano Competition, where I was one of the competitors and he served as chairman of the jury. Bolet was one of two people who made it possible for me to leave behind the impoverished conditions of my native Brazil, come to the US to ac

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

My first thought was that Jorge Bolet was teaching a young John McEnroe, later an international tennis player! Does anyone know who the...

A very incomplete list. Feel free to add to it, using the Contact page. Jacobs School of Music, Bloomington, Indiana Francisco Rennó (Brazil) Gary Thor Wedow Glenn Winters (1970-76) Curtis Institute, Philadelphia Meng-Chieh Liu (Kaohsiung, Taiwan) Ira Levin Ju Hee Suh (Seoul, South Korea, 1967- ) Makoto Ueno (Japan) see here Thomas Sauer (USA) see here Anthony Padilla Graydon Goldsby Wonmi Kim (South Korea) Gustavo Rivero Weber (Mexico) Studied with JB (privately) Teresa Esc