1926-1927
27 April 1926 (age 11)
Sala Falcón, Havana (9pm)
Études Op.10/3 in E major, Op.10/5 in G flat, Op.10/12 in C minor, Op.25/2 in F minor, Waltzes in A flat Op.43/1 and D flat [Op.64/1 "Minute"?], Polonaise in A major Op.40/1.
​
13 August 1926
Teatro Principal de la Comedia, Havana
Waltz in A major Op.2 by Mischa Levitzki, Waltz No. 2 [A-flat major 1835) Op. 34/1] by Chopin and Mariposa/Le Papillon (Etude de Concert Op. 18) by Calixa Lavallée.
Mozart,Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor K.466 with Mercedita Soler on second piano.
​
4 December 1926
Teatro Payret, Havana (charity concert organised by Ernesto Lecuona)
Jorge will play a solo
​
25 December 1926
Christmas concert. Waltz by Levitzki, a study by Chopin, and Mariposa by Lavallé.
1926/27?
Teatro Nacional, Havana
Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor K466, with Havana Sinfonica under Gonzalo Roig.
​
4 September 1927 (age 12)
Gran Teatro Nacional, Havana (Sunday at 10am) - to raise funds for travel to Philadelphia
Prelude (Bach/de Blanck), a study by Henselt, Impromptus by Chopin, a Waltz by Levitzki, "Nocturno" (which is probably Liszt's Liebestraum 3), the Allegro Appassionato by Saint-Saens, then the Konzertstück by Carl Maria von Weber with the Havana Symphony under Gonzalo Roig.
​
1928-29
21 May 1929 (age 14)
Curtis Institute, radio broadcast
Chopin’s F minor Fantasy and Leo Délibes, Naila waltz (arranged by the Hungarian pianist/ composer ErnÅ‘ Dohnanyi).
​
4 July 1929
Havana
Pro Arte Musicale Society; recital
César Franck, Beethoven Appassionata, Chopin, Manuel de Falla and the Leo Delibes Naila waltz.
11 September 1929
Auditorium, Havana
César Franck, Prelude; Hubert de Blanck, Toccata; Chopin, Prelude, Étude & Ballade; Abram Chasins, 2 Preludes; Leo Délibes, Naila Waltz.
Liszt, Concerto [most likely No. 1 in E flat]
Orquesta Sinfónica, Gonzalo Roig
​
20 December 1929 (age 15)
Curtis radio broadcast
Leo Délibes, Naila Waltz.
​​​​
1929
Jorge first learns Rachamninoff's Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op.30​​
1930-32
26 May 1930 (age 15)
Casimir Hall, Curtis Institute
Cesar Franck: Prelude, Choral and Fugue
Johann Strauss/Schulz-Evler: Concert Arabesques on the Blue Danube Waltz
​​
24 April 1931 (age 16)
Organ Fantasy and Fugue Johann Sebastian Bach in G minor (in the Liszt adaptation);
Franz Liszt, Waldesrauschen;
Fantasia quasi Sonata : "Apres une Lecture du Dante"
First movement from the Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op.18 Sergei Rachmaninoff
Irene Peckham (orchestral part played on a second piano by Jorge Bolet)
​
16 May 1931
Academy of Music, Philadelphia.
Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 in Bâ™ minor, Op. 23: first movement
Curtis Orchestra, Sylvan Levin
​
13 December 1931 (age 17)
Pennsylvania Museum of Art/ also listed as Casimir Hall, Curtis
Arensky, Piano Quintet in D major Op.51
​
27 December 1931
Teatro Nacional, Havana
Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 in Bâ™ minor, Op. 23 [+ another concerto]
Orquesta Filharmónica Havana, Amadeo Roldán
29 December 1931
Hotel Nacional, Havana: a recital including
Bach/Liszt, Organ Fantasia and Fugue in G minor
Schumann's Abegg Variations,
Chopin's third sonata
Paul de Schloezer's Etude in A flat
J. Staruss II/Schulz-Evler, Blue Danube
​
29 January 1932 (age 17)
Carnegie Hall, New York City
Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 in Bâ™ minor, Op. 23: first movement
Curtis Orchestra, Fritz Reiner
​
15 April 15, 1932
Sonata in F minor, Opus 57 (Appassionata), BEETHOVEN,
Menuett in A minor RAMEAU-GODOWSKY,
Etude in A flat major, Opus 1, No. 2 PAUL DE SCHLOZER
​
27 October 1932
Bomberger Hall, Ursinus College, Collegeville, Pennsylvania
Schumann, Fantasiestücke Op.12 (Des Abends, Fabel, Aufschwung, Ende vom Lied)
Paul de Schloezer, étude
Albéniz-Godowsky Tango
Manuel de Falla, Andaluza​​​
1933-34
14 March 1933 (age 18)
Casimir Hall, Curtis
Introduction and Allegro Maurice Ravel (with piano accompaniment), Marjorie Call, harp, Jorge Bolet at the piano
​
5 April 1933
Casimir Hall, Curtis Institute
Sonata in B minor FRANZ LISZT
Le Cygne (Saint-Saens-Godowsky)
Polka de W. R (Sergei Rachmaninov)
Rondo a capriccio, Op. 129 (Ludwig van Beethoven)
La Campanella (Liszt/Busoni):
​
7 September 1933
Sala Espadero, Havana
Liszt Sonata, and the Liszt/Busoni "La Campanella"
​
11 November 1933 (age 19)
Stony Brook School, Long Island, NY
Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto with Headmaster Frank E. Gaebelein on second piano.
3 April 1934
Teatro Principal de la Comedia, Havana
A ‘warm-up’ concert with the same programme as Graduation recital
​
16 April 1934 (age 19)
Casimir Hall, Curtis Institute
Graduation recital
​
Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel, Opus 24, Johannes Brahms
Nocturne in E flat major, Opus 5 5, No. 2, Frederic Chopin
Rondo from Sonata, No. 1 in C major, Opus 24, Carl Maria von Weber
Sonata in B minor. Opus 58, Frederic Chopin
Prelude in E flat major, Opus 23, No. 6, Sergei Rachmaninoff
Prelude in G sharp minor. Opus 32, No. 12, Sergei Rachmaninoff
Suggestion diabolique, Serge Prokofiev
Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes from Fledermaus Waltzes of Johann Strauss Leopold Godowsky
​
8 August 1934
Teatro Principal de la Comedia, Havana; recital to include-
Beethoven's Sonata No.26 Les Adieux Op.81a and "La Campañella by Liszt/Busoni.
14 August 1934
Havana
Fauré (Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major, Op. 13), Franck and Richard Strauss with Alberto, violin
30 August 1934
Sala Espadero of the Conservatorio Nacional
Recital 'en obsequio a la Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos de Blanck'.
​
1 September 1934
Lyceum, Havana
Beethoven Op.24 & Cesar Franck with brother Alberto, violin​​​
1935-36, Europe
31 March 1935 (age 20)
Students' Atelier, 65 Quai d'Orsay, Paris
Recital
8 May 1935 (age 20)
Kleine Zaal, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Holland
(Official European début)
​​
Manuel de Falla, Fantasía Bética
C. Franck, Prelude, Chorale et Fugue
Beethoven, Appassionata Op.57
Chopin group incl. Ballade in G minor Op.23
Liszt, Waldesrauschen
Strauss II/Godowsky, Fledermaus
​
10 May 1935
Diligentia Hall, The Hague, Holland
​
17 May 1935
Bechsteinsaal, Berlin (Germany)
​
19 May 1935
Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi, Milan (Italy)
​
23 May 1935
Schubert-Saal, Konzerthaus, Vienna (Austria)
​
31 May 1935
Aeolian Hall, New Bond Street, London
​
6 June 1935
Salle Chopin, 8 rue Daru, Paris (France)
​
24 November 1935
Austrian radio broadcast
Theodor Christoph & Wiener Symphoniker
Tchaikovsky, Konzert für Klavier und Orchester B-Moll, op. 23​
​
28 February 1936 (age 21)
Salón Novedades, Pamplona, Navarra (Spain)
Recital incl. Chopin Sonata No. 3
​
21 & 28 March and 4 April 1936
Teatro Español, Madrid, Spain.
Beethoven, Emperor Concerto, No. 5 Op.73 in E flat major with José María Franco
​
7 September 1936
Auditorio, Havana for Pro Arte Musical
Recital devoted entirely to Godowsky
​​
10 September 1936
Miramar Yacht Club, Havana
Beethoven's 32 Variations in C minor, a Godowsky group and Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto with Hellen Metzer on a second piano.
​
9 December 1936 (age 22)
Casimir Hall, Curtis Institute (Philadelphia), radio broadcast
Liszt's Fantasie and Fugue in G minor on a Bach Chorale
Liszt's Liebestraum, Waldesrauschen, Valse impromptu, and La Campanella [in a version with additions by Busoni?]
​
We are told of recitals/concerts in the Caribbean and in Canada, Mexico, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic during 1936-39
​​​​
1937-39
9 March 1937
William Penn High School, New Castle County, Delaware
Liszt Concerto No. 1 in E flat; York Symphony/ Louis Vyner
Encores included Le papillon ("The Butterfly"/Mariposa) by Calixa Lavallée
​
June 1937
Auditorio, Havana; recital including -
Balakirev's Islamey
19 October 1937
Casimir Hall, Curtis Institute
Same programme as 19th
​
27 October 1937 (Naumburg Prize recital)
Town Hall,123, West 43rd Street, New York City,
Organ Fantasia and Fugue in G minor (Bach-Liszt)
Rondo from the Sonata in D major, Opus 53 (Franz Schubert)
Etudes: E flat major, Opus 10, No. 11 , C sharp minor. Opus 10, No. 4/ C sharp minor, Opus 25, No. 7/ A minor, Opus 25, No. 11, Fantasie in F minor, Opus 49 (F.Chopin)
Sonata in B minor (Franz Liszt)
Suggestion diabolique (Serge Prokofiev)
Preludes: E flat major, Opus 23, No. 6 & G sharp minor, Opus 32 (Sergei Rachmaninov)
Waltzes from "Die Fledermaus" (Strauss-Godowsky)
​
20 October 1937
Radio broadcast (CBS)
Casimir Hall, Curtis including -
Rachmaninoff's G# minor Prelude Op. 32 No.12
​
5 January 1938
Iris Club, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Recital
​
4, 5 & 8 February 1938
Academy of Music, Philadelphia
Rachmaninoff, Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op.30​
Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy (JB's début with the orchestra)
​​​
31 March 1939
Casimir Hall, Curtis Institute
Claude Debussy (from Préludes I & II), Masques, La Puerta del Vino, General Lavine — eccentric, La Terrasse des audiences du clair de lune, La Serenade interrompue, Mouvement
​
3 August 1939
Anfiteatro, Havana
Recital, incl. Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Strauss II/Godowsky, Künstlerleben ("An Artist's Life" Op.316)
​
18 December 1939
Auditorio, Havana
Liszt's Concerto No.2 in A Major with Massimo Freccia
​
20 December 1939
Sala Espadero, Havana
Recital for the Sociedad Hubert de Blanck
Two recordings from 1937 and 1939 are extant: Ludwig van Beethoven: Quintet in Eâ™ Major for Piano and Winds, Op. 16 and one of Camille Saint-Saëns: Caprice sur des airs Danois et Russes, Op. 79.
1940-41
26 March 1940
Curtis Institute
Recital of Leopold Godowsky's compositions
​
Passacalia
Composed as a tribute to the memory of Franz Schubert on the eve of the hundredth anniversary of his death. The theme is based on the first eight bars of the Unfinished Symphony
​​
Four selections from Phonoramas (Java Suite):
Gamelan, The gardens of Buitenzorg , Chattering monkeys at the sacred Lake of Wendit , In the streets of old Batavia
​​
Ten studies on Chopin's Etudes:
Opus 25. No. 1 in A flat major, third version
Opus 10, No. 2 in A minor, second version — Ignis Fatuus
Posthumous etude in E major, first version. Originally in A flat major
Opus 2 5, No. 6 in G sharp minor
Opus 25, No. 5 in E minor, first version
Opus 10, No. 5 and Opus 25, No. 9 combined, in G flat major — Badinage
Opus 10, No. 6 in E flat minor for the left hand alone
Opus 10, No. 11 and Opus 2*. No. 3 combined, in F major
Opus 10, No. 7 in G flat major, second version. Originally in C major — Nocturne
Opus 10, No. 7 in C major, first version — Toccata
​​
Triana (transcribed from Albeniz)​
Symphonic metamorphosis on theme from the "Artist-Life" waltz of Johann Strauss
19 April 1940
Curtis Institute
Mozart’s Piano Quintet in E Flat​
​​
15 October 1940
Casimir Hall, Curtis Institute
Same programme as 29th
​
29 October 1940 (Hofmann Award recital), aged 25yrs 11 months
Town Hall, New York City
Including: Schubert's Sonata in A (posthumous = D959?)
Brahms' three Intermezzi, Op. 117
Debussy, Three Preludes: ‘La puerta del vino’, ‘La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune’, ‘General Lavine, eccentric’
Schumann's Études Symphoniques, Op. 13
​
14 May 1941
Detroit (first appearance)
Schumann's Symphonic Etudes and Schubert's A major Sonata D959
​
10 December 1941
Auditorio, Havana
Recital
​
Late December
Recital at the Presidential Palace, Havana 'after which he is to be decorated, we hear, by President Colonel Batista, no less'.
​
Mid-1940s
Teatro Principal, Camagüey, Cuba
Recital, as recalled by Manuel Reguera Saumell, Cuban architect, who was a high-school student at the time.
​
1942-3
12 January 1942
Auditorio, Havana
Manuel de Falla, Noches en los jardines de España
Havana Philharmonic/ Massimo Freccia
​
31 May 1942
Detroit Golf Club
incl. Albeniz's El Albaicin and Von Dohnanyi’s Waltz from the ballet Naila of Delibes.
​
19 June 1942
Warren County High School Auditorium, Virginia USA
incl. waltz from the ballet “Naila” of Leo Delibes by Ernest Von Dohnanyi
​
c.21 October 1942
Prince Edward Hotel, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
'The most modern number of the evening, Albéniz's El Albaicín, a gypsy bit, was made for him.'
​
27 October 1942
Cathedral house, Garden City, Nassau County, Long Island, New York.
Brahms, Intermezzi in A major Op.118 No.1 & in C major Op.119 No.2,
Debussy Suite (Prelude, Sarabande, Toccata),
Albéniz's El Albaicín,
Liszt Valse Impromptu and a Petrarch sonnet
Chopin's 4 scherzos
...and then Jorge's own arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner.
​
18 December 1942
Carnegie Hall, NYC (JB's first appearance here since January 1932)
Schubert 2 Impromptus B flat Op. 142/3 E flat Op.90/2,
Chopin 4 Scherzi,
Falla Cubana, Andaluza,
Albeniz El Albaícin,
Godowsky 3 pieces from Java Suite "Phonoramas" (Gamelan, In the Gardens of Buitenzorg & In the Streets of Old Batavia)
​
12 April 1943
Havana
Rachmaninoff 3 with Erich Kleiber
​
2 August 1943
Avenida Central 3, Alturas de Almendares, Havana
Recital of Mozart, Schubert, Debussy and Chopin
​
20 October 1943
Auditorium, Havana
Recital of Bach, Beethoven Debussy and Chopin
​
29 November 1943
Havana
Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto in C minor, with José Echániz/ Orquesta Filharmónica de La Habana
​
10 December 1943
A celebration in honour of the Cuban Republic, La Noche Cubana in the Department of the interior, Washington DC. Jorge Bolet played; Gloria Estevez sang.
​​​​​
1944-45
11 January 1944 (unless in December 1943)
Constitution Hall, Washington DC
Impromptu recital, as Sigmund Romberg's train hadn't arrived!
​
7 February 1944
Carnegie Hall, NYC (3rd appearance)
incl. Debussy and Shostakovich Preludes
​
14 April 1944
Pan American Day, Hall of the Americas, Washington DC
Schubert's Impromptu, D. 899, No. 2 in E flat
Chopin's Nocturne in F sharp major, Scherzo in B flat minor
Roberto García Morillo (Argentina, b.1911), Canción triste y Danza alegre
Mozart Camargo Guarnieri (Brazil, 1907-1993), Toada triste
Alberto Ginastera (Argentina, b.1916) Piezas infantiles
​
22 May 1944
Stony Brook School, Long Island, NY
Recital in aid of United China Relief
​
4 November 1944
Teatro Nacional, Havana
Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 in Bâ™ minor, Op. 23 with Erich Leinsdorf in aid of victims of a cyclone
​
8 November, 1944
El Crisol reports that the microphones of Havana radio station Circuito CMQ broadcast Jorge in a programme with the radio's own symphony orchestra conducted by his brother Alberto.
​
14 November 1944
Civic Auditorium, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18
This was Jorge's first appearance with The Cleveland Orchestra which was on tour (under French-American Vladimir Golschmann)
​
‘My last visit to Cuba was in November 1944. I gave a concert in the Auditorio and another in the Teatro Nacional, for the benefit of the victims of the cyclone. Then I was 2nd Lieutenant in the Cuban Army. I had a contract with Columbia Artists. 15 concerts in the USA for 1944/5, a tour of 30 concerts in Australia and New Zealand for the spring of 1945/6. [There are no reports in Australian newspapers of this tour so it probably did not go ahead.]
​
8 December 1944
Carnegie Hall, NYC (4th appearance)
Incl. Bach’s French Suite in E major)
Brahms/Handel variations
Norman Dello Joio’s second sonata (the composer was present)
Chopin’s G minor Ballade
​
23 January 1945
McAlister Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana
Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 in Bâ™ minor, Op. 23
New Orleans Symphony and Massimo Freccia​
1946-47
24 May 1946 (age 31)
Ernie Pyle Theatre
Recital by Hungarian violinist Fery Lorant and Jorge Bolet
César Franck's A major Sonata; also Transylvanian Dances by Bartók, Chanson Louis XIII et Pacane by Couperin, and Up the Canyon from Rocky Mounatain Sketches by Cecil Burleigh (1885-1980).
31 July 1946
Hibiya Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
Nippon [later NHK] Philharmonic/ Józef Rosenstock
​
Schumann, Beethoven 4 and Liszt 2 concertos were also played during this time
​
August 1946
Ernie Pyle Theatre
Jorge conducted performance of The Mikado
​
After his discharge in September 1946, Bolet began to tour Mexico, Central America, the West Indies and South America. The tour began on 22 September 1946 and would keep him busy until mid-December. He had been flown back from Japan at the request of Columbia Concerts.
​
Late1946 [?]
'I met Jorge Bolet in Mexico, in the sumptuous Metropolitan [a hotel or the Cathedral in the zócalo?] the night of the concert with which the Orquesta Sinfónica de México made its contribution to the the change of power [this no doubt refers to the election of 7 July 1946, but as stated above, Jorge began his tour of Central America on 22 September of that year]. We spoke in low voices (after all, we were not in Cuba!) about the conductor Carlos Chávez, about his Sinfonia India, and about a lovely work of Silvestre Revueltas [1899-1940] which we had heard.' (Francisco Ichaso)
​
17 January 1947
Auditorio, Havana
Recital
Mozart's Fantasy & Fugue in C major, Beethoven's Les Adieux, Franck's Prelude Choral and Fugue, a suite by Norman dello Joio and Liszt's Mephisto Waltz.
29 January/ 6 February 1947
Ciudad Trujillo (present day Santo Domingo) Dominican Republic
​
11 February 1947
Lyceum Lawn Tennis Club, Havana
The A major sonata of Schubert and Franck's Quintet in F minor with Carlos Agostini, Francisco Cao, Luisa Rueda and Roger Dugad
​
1, 3 March 1947
Auditorio, Havana
Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 with Erich Kleiber
​
The Gazette and Daily (York, PA., 2 June 1947) reported that Jorge 'recently retuned from a Latin American tour which took him as far south as Guatemala and included a 10-week radio engagement in Mexico City.'
​
25 August 1947
A broadcast recital from L'Ermitage, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (first appearance in the city)
Haydn's Andante & Variations, 3 Chopin works, 2 Intermezzi and a Caprice by Brahms and Mendelssohn's Rondo Capriccioso
​
13 October 1947
Carnegie Hall, NYC (5th appearance)
incl. dello joi's Third Sonata, Mozart's Fantasy & Fugue in C major, Beethoven's Les Adieux, Aleksandr Tcherepnin, Bagatelles...
​
1948-9
23 February 1948
Carlisle gymnasium, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Grieg, Concerto in A minor
St Louis Sinfonietta/ Paul Schreiber
Three encores, including Saint-Saëns' Studying the Form of a Waltz (sic)
​
6 April 1948
Auditorio, Havana: recital
Jorge had been touring in Cuba - Cienfuegos and Santa Clara are mentioned. If he was in also Camagüey on this tour, then a young Cuban schoolboy [Manuel Reguera Saumell, Cuban architect] heard him, an occasion he recalled in 2022.
​
April 1948
JB seems to have been engaged to give concerts in Bogotá, Colombia during an Inter-American conference in April 1948 but these had to be cancelled due to the political situation.
​
27 May 1948
Teatro Riviera, Havana.
Claudio Arrau, violinist Ginette Noveau and and the Hungarian Miklos Gafni ('a sensational tenor, discovered in a Czechoslovakian [Polish?] concentration camp') - among others - took part.
July 1948
Mexico?
​
10 November 1948
Washington Union High School, Fresno, California (and the following evening in Livermore, the easternmost city in the San Francisco Bay area)
​
24 November, 1948
Foothill, Azusa (at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains and located 20 miles/32 km east of downtown Los Angeles), as part of the Sierra Madre Community Concerts. A capacity audience of 'over 500 persons. Holders of student tickets, particularly filled the balcony section.
​
3 December 1948
Carnegie Hall, NYC
The programme of his 6th appearance here included: Beethoven's Rondo Op. 51/1 in C, Schubert's A minor Sonata D.748, Prokofiev's Sonata No. 8 in B flat major Op. 84, Chopin's Ballade in G minor Op.23, Berceuse, and a Saint-Saëns Waltz.
​
24 January 1949
Majestic Theatre, Corner Brook, Newfoundland (Canada)
Recital including Albeniz and Lecuona. 'He will leave on 26th for Grand Falls and other Newfoundland towns.'
​
11 March 1949
Teatro Degollado, Guadalajara, Mexico
Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with Leslie Hodge and the Guadalajara SO
​
c.25 March 1949
Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh
Bolet replaced Vladimir Horowitz, for two of three performances of Rachmaninoff's third concerto.
​
25 April 1949
Auditorio, Havana
Schumann concerto
Filarmónica de Havana and conductor Eugen Szenkar
​
27 April 1949
Havana
inc;. Piano Sonata in A minor, D 784 (Schubert) and Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 8 in Bâ™ major, Op. 84.
Two encores, Adiós a Cuba (Ignacio Cervantes) and a dance by Lecuona
We are told in a newspaper report that Jorge will make his first appearance in the Teatro de Bellas Artes, Mexico City.
​
17 May 1949
Teatro Sauto, Matanzas, Cuba
Programme as 27 April
​
In 1949, Artur Rodzinski (1892- 1958, a Polish music director of the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic in the 1930s and 1940s) heard Bolet in Havana (possibly at recitals on 18 and 20 October, 1949). He introduced him to the Greek conductor, resident in America, Dimitri Mitropoulos (1896-1960) and the New York Philharmonic.
​
19 November 1949
Stake Tabernacle, Brigham City (Box Elder County), Utah.
Recital incl.Haydn's Andante, Beethoven's Tempest, Chopin
​
On 4 December 1949, the San Angelo Standard (Texas) states that 'Bolet come to San Angelo from a seven-month tour of Latin America and Canada. He performed with Erich Kleiber and the Havana Philharmonic and presented 12 half-hour radio programs from Mexico City with the symphony under Jose Sabre Marroquin.'
​
8 December 1949
Municipal Auditorium, San Angelo, TX.
Recital to include Beethoven, Op31/2 Tempest and Strauss/Godowsky Fledermaus.
​
12 December 1949
Dallas Symphony under Walter Hendl: Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto
(This led to Jorge being re-engaged for 27 March 1950)
1950-51
10 January 1950
Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana
Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16
New Orleans Symphony & Massimo Freccia
​
1 February 1950
Ritz Carlton Hotel, New York City
75th birthday of violinist Fritz Kreisler.Bolet played piano selections, ‘pinch-hitting’ for Claudio Arrau who was unable to make plane connections to get to the dinner on time.
​
15 February 1950
Constitution Hall, Washington, DC
Rachmaninoff 3 with Howard Mitchell
Fresh from an engagement (3 concerts) in Caracas, Venezuela - mostly likely in the Teatro Municipal, Jorge had flown back on February 14. Jorge was covering for Byron Janis who was ill.
​
7 May, 1950
Teatro Nacional, Havana
Recital incl. Beethoven's Sonata in D minor ("Tempest"?), Franck, Prelude, Chorale et Fugue & some Mendelssohn, ending with Strauss/Godowsky "El Murciélago"(Fledermaus Waltzes)
​
18 June 1950
Concert for the 150th birthday of the city of Washington, DC. Cuba sent Bolet as one of its representatives.
11 July 1950
Fifth Gala Sesquicentennial Watergate Concert
The Brazilian composer Walter Burle Marx conducted Bolet
​
16 July 1950
Grant Park,Chicago, IL.
Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 in Bâ™ minor, Op. 23
Nicolai Malko and the Grant Park Symphony orchestra
​
5 August 1950
Berkshire Music Festival, Tanglewood, Massachusetts.
Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16
3 November in Fort Worth, Texas
Recital incl. Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes and Weinberger/Chasins’ Schwanda the Bagpiper polka
​
7 November 1950
Victoria Theater, Ciudad Juárez: recital?
​
14 November 1950
San Jacinto High School, Houston, Texas.
Schubert Sonata in B flat D960
15 November 1950
Fine Arts Auditorium, Natchitoches (Louisiana).
Incl. Chopin's Barcarolle, Schumann's Symphonic Etudes and the Schwanda Fantasy.
​
October 1950
Teatro Colón, Bogotá (Colombia)?
​
4/5 February 1951
Havana
Havana Philharmonic under Jean Morel.
The 1950-51 season also included recitals in Cienfuegos (?in the Teatro Tomás Terry) and Santa Clara
​
3 March 1951
Carnegie Hall, NYC
Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16 with Dimitri Mitropoulos
​​
3 April 1951
Carnegie Hall: recital
Beethoven, Tempest Sonata Op31/2 of Beethoven and Schumann’s Concerto without orchestra Op. 14 etc.
After this, his 8th performance in the hall, Bolet was not to perform in the city for the next five years (4 December 1956).
​
12 April 1951
Auditorium, Havana
Repeated his Carnegie Hall recital of 3 April
​
22 April (10:45am) and Monday 23 (9:30pm)
Havana
Brahms's 2nd concerto in B flat
Orquesta Filarmónica de La Habana and Frieder Wessmann
​
25 July 1951
Summer Prom, Public Auditorium [500, Lakeside Ave], Cleveland, Ohio
Liszt, Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major (Jorge also played Camargo Guarnieri, Toada Triste and Lecuona's Afro-Cuban Dances)
Cleveland Orchestra and Rudolph Ringwall
29 July 1951
Summer concert with the Chautauqua SO under Franco Autori, NewYork
Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2
​
5 August 1951
Tanglewood, MA
Prokofiev, Second Piano Concerto; Boston Symphony under Brazilian maestro Eleazar de Carvalho
​
11 November 1951
Twilight Concert with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
​​
21 November 1951
Consistory, Bloomington, Illinois recital
​
6/7 December 1951
Orchestra Hall, Chicago
Chicago Symphony
​
29 December 1951
Jorge makes debut with San Antonio Symphony [Texas] in Rachmaninov's Paganini Variations, under Victor Alessandro.​​​​
1952-53
6 March, 1952
Omak Chronicle reports recital in Washington State
3 April 1952
Temple of Music, Tucson (Arizona)
incl. Weinberger/Chasins' lively "Schwanda the Bagpiper")
He played in Tucson again on 13 April 1953 and 26 February 1958
4 May 1952
University Musical Society, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Beethoven’s fourth piano concerto in G major with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Thor Johnson. The First Lady of Brazilian piano, Guiomar Novaes, was indisposed.
​
A tour of Canada, October 1952
Bolet toured Canada ("with his 9 foot Baldwin") in the autumn of 1952
6 October 1952, Théâtre Cartier, Montréal: recital
Liszt sonata; Schumann's Fanstasiestücke; Debussy preludes
​
8 October 1952
Centre Paroissial Thetford Mines, south-central Quebec
Early January 1953
Bolet made his San Francisco debut with Prokofiev's second piano concerto
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra / Erich Leinsdorf
9 January 1953
Music Hall, Cincinnati
Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3, the usually apathetic Friday afternoon audience gave him an ovation that was described by old-timers as the loudest and most prolonged they had ever heard at the concerts.
​
3 & 6 February 1953
Teatro Municipal, Caracas, Venezuela
Concerts in honour of José Martí (b.1853), who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in the liberation of his country from Spain.
Tuesday 3rd: a recital of Beethoven [Andante Favori ?], Brahms [Intermezzo Op.119 No. 3 in C , Rhapsody Op.118 No. 4 in E flat] , Liszt's Sonata & Mephisto Waltz, Chopin [7 Preludes & Ballade No. 3 in. A flat] and Rachmaninoff
Friday 6th, with conductor Ángel Sauce and the Orquesta Sinfónica Venezuela he performed the Schumann concerto and the Paganini Variations of Rachmaninoff.
19 January 1953
Municipal auditorium, Charleston, West Virginia
Liszt Sonata
​
6 April1953
Citrus Junior College, Foothill, Azusa (at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains and located 20 miles/32 km east of downtown Los Angeles), as part of the Sierra Madre Community Concerts - for which he had played on 24 November 1948.
​
19/20 April 1953
Miami Beach and Dade County Auditorium
Rachmaninoff 3 with the U.Miami Symphony and John Bitter.
​
10 May 1953
Sioux SO in Sioux City Municipal Auditorium: Tchaikovsky 1
​
In the spring of 1953 he had a concert at the Hollywood Bowl which was described by Aurelio de la Vega as ‘a climax, one of Bolet’s biggest triumphs’.
​
11 August 1953
Jorge gave the first Los Angeles Philharmonic performance of the Prokofiev concerto on with Erich Leinsdorf conducting.
​
​​2 August 1953
Tchaikovsky 1
Tanglewood under Pierre Monteux
8 August 1953
Brevard Festival (North Carolina)
Rachmaninoff 3 with Brevard Festival Orchestra and James Christian Pfohl
The concert was at the beautiful Transylvania Music Camp, in the shadow of Mt Pisgah. Christine M. Baermann for The Waynesville Mountaineer (13 August) said that JB was somewhat nervous about the evening performance because of the dampness after a summer storm. Students had kept three hair-dryers full blast on the felt pads all afternoon.
11 August 1953
Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles
under Erich Leinsdorf ​​​
​
16 August 1953
Forest Meadows, Dominican College, San Rafael
Jennie Tourel, mezzo soprano​
24 October 1953
Spokane, [Washington State
Brahms Concerto No. 2 in B flat
Spokane Phil. under Harold Paul Whelan
​
16 November 1953
Alkázar Theater, Camagüey (Cuba).
Ballet performances Alicia Alonso. The orchestra was conducted [?] by maestro Jorge Bolet
1954
13 January 1954
The Fitchburg Sentinel (Massachusetts)
Schumann, Mendelssohn, Chopin (B flat minor sonata, No. 2, the Funeral March) and Liszt; Strauss/Godowsky's Fledermaus waltzes came at the end. Jorge was entertained afterward sat a buffet supper by Mr and Mrs Charles Patch of 138 Pleasant Street. He says that he plays 3 to 4 concerts a week and rarely has time to practise between October and April.
​
In the Pittsfield Berkshire Evening Eagle, 19 January 1954 (Massachusetts), critic Jay Rosenfeld felt Jorge should be a bit more venturesome in his repertoire (only Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin was from the 20th century).
5 February 1954
Natchitoches, Louisiana
Gershwin's Concerto in F & Rhapsody in Blue
16/17 February 1954
Fair Park and Byrd High auditoriums, Shreveport, Louisiana
Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op.23
​
28 February 1954
Armory-Auditorium, Charlotte, North Carolina: a recital which included four selections from Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin (not often played by JB?); Chopin's Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor
​
12 March 1954
Bailey Hall, Cornell University
Prokofiev 2
Rochester Philharmonic and Erich Leinsdorf​​
In the spring of 1954, Bolet became one of five American musicians invited for a four-week visit to West Germany as guests of the Federal Republic. While in Germany, Bolet appeared as soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic.
​
7 April 1954
Hochschule für Musik, Berlin
Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,under the baton of Arthur Rother.
Bolet was back in Europe in May 1954. A photo in Musical America, July 1954 shows Jorge backstage at London's Wigmore Hall after a recital in June by American mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel.
​
30 November 1954
Capitol Theatre, Ottawa (Canada)
Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Josef Krips
​
Repeated in Québec on 2 December.
It will be another 22 years before Jorge returns to Ottawa (30 September 1976)​
​
15 November 1954
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Haydn: Andante con variazioni; Beethoven: Sonata in E-flat major, Op.81a; Liszt: Sonata in B minor; Chopin: Four Scherzi.​
​
12, 14 December 1954
Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, NY
Beethoven – Piano Concerto No.4 in G major, op.58
(Bruckner – Symphony No.8 in C minor)
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Josef Krips
1955, Brazil and Argentina
12 February 1955
Sweet Briar, Virginia
Haydn Andante and Variations in F Minor, the Schubert “Wanderer” Fantasy, and the four ballades of Chopin plus three encores.​​
​​​
Thursday, 24 March 1955, Penticton High School auditorium, Canada for the South Okanagan Community Concerts Assoc. (incl. Franck's Prelude, Aria and Finale - 'with its rich orchestral effects and chromatic vagaries'- , and Liszt's Mephisto Waltz)
A report in The New York Times, 26 May, 1955 informs us that ‘Jorge Bolet, pianist, leaves today by air to play a series of eighteen concerts in Brazil and Argentina'. Only five concerts found thus far, though it might be that political unrest in Argentina curtailed the tour.
30 May 1955 (age 40)
Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Haydn, Andante con variazione
Beethoven, Sonata Les Adieux op. 81
Liszt, Sonata in B minor
Debussy, Préludes (La puerta del vino, La terasse, Ondine, General Lavine)
Rachmaninov, Prelude Op.23 No.6 in E flat major
Prokofiev, Toccata
​
31 May/1 June 1955
Teatro Cultura Artistica, São Paulo (Brazil)
​
Other destinations in Brazil included Porto Alegre
​
6, 7 June 1955
Teatro Broadway, Avenida Corrientes, Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Jorge added "Gato" (1940), a lively, syncopated dance by an Argentinian composer Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000) to his programme, for a bit of local colour.
​
Jorge may have performed in Córdoba and Rosario, the next two most populous cites in Argentina.
​
Jorge may have performed in Córdoba and Rosario, the next two most populous cites in Argentina. He arrived back on 28 June 1955 in New York on an overnight flight from Buenos Aires (Pan Am 202)
30 June & 2 July 1955
Ravinia Festival, Chicago
Rachmaninoff 3 and Schumann with Dutch maestro Eduard van Beinum.
The Daily Worker, 6 June 1955, however, notes that on Saturday 25 June at Lewisohn Stadium on the campus of the City College of New York (CCNY), Jorge would take part in a "Latin American Fiesta"​.Perhaps Jorge's Argentina trip was cut short, due to the political unrest and the bombings of the 16 June?
​
8 August 1955
Red Rocks Festival, near Denver Colorado
Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No.1 in B flat minor
Saul Caston and the Denver Symphony ​
["The One When The Piano Ran Away From Jorge!"]
​
14 October 1955
The Stony Brook School, Long Island: recital
​​
23 November 1955
Copenhagen, Denmark (in the Odd Fellow Palace, Bredgade 28 [Odd Fellow Palæet]: Beethoven 4 with Robert Blot conductor
​
9 December 1955
Copenhagen, small hall of the Odd Fellow Palace
Recital
Haydn, Andante & Variations, Beethoven Les Adieux, Op.81, Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy and the 4 Scherzos of Chopin.
13 December 1955
Small Hall, Konserthuset, Stockholm
Programme as 9th
​
16 December 1955
Kleine Zaal, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam (Holland).
This was Jorge's first appearance in Holland since his European début in May 1935.
18 December 1955 (age 41)
Royal Festival Hall, London
The programme included Haydn’s Sonata in E flat No.62 (Hob.XVI:52), Beethoven’s Les Adieux Op.81 and Chopin’s 4 Scherzos
[solo recital début in London]
23 December 1955, Jorge sailed from Southampton back to New York, via Halifax on the SS Italia.
​​​
1956-57
30 September 1956
Royal Festival Hall, London
Tchaikovsky 1 with the RPO and Herman Lindars
This London concert was regarded as the highlight of a two-month tour of Europe by Musical America (15.12.56).
​
21 October 1956
Åmål in Västra Götaland County, Sweden
​
14 November 1956
Teatro Carrión, Valladolid, Spain
'Beside a Fantasia by Mozart, we shall hear a Sonata by the Argentinian composer Ginastera, a work of exceptional artistic quality and original brilliance'. Also the Liszt Sonata.
​​JB had not played in Spain for 20 years.
​​
4 December 1956
Carnegie Hall, NYC (his first since December 1951, and his ninth here).
Recital incl. Liszt B minor Sonata and Argentinian composer Ginastera’s Sonata No. 1 Op.22 (1952)
​
14 December 1956 (Friday)
Auditorium in Havana
Same recital as Carnegie Hall on 4 December.
Alberto and Jorge gave concerts on Sunday morning (10:30am) and Monday evening:
Samuel Barber's overture
Prokofiev No. 2 in G minor and Brahms No. 2 in B flat
​
21 December 1956
Palacio de Bellas Artes, Havana.
Brahms and Shostakovich with the Sociedad de Conciertos Quartet
​
22 December 1956
Havana
Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto​
​
Diario de Noticias (Rio de Janeiro), 23 March 1956 has a notice that the Associação Riograndense de Música, in their upcoming season, would feature Jorge Bolet, violinist Henryk Szeryng and Japanese soprano Tomiko Kanazawa in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
​
26 February 1957
Atlanta, Georgia
Mozart No. 24 in C minor K.491, Schumann, Rachmaninoff 3
An obituary notice for JB in an Atlanta paper (October 1990) reminds readers that ‘Atlanta Symphony audiences were treated to his artistry on three occasions in 1957, 1959 and not again until 1985. Mr. Bolet was scheduled to perform with the ASO again in January 1989, but illness forced a cancellation.’​
​
1 March 1957
Orchestra Hall, Chicago
Liszt's Sonata in B minor
​
14/15 April 1957
Dade Auditorium., Miami
Rachmaninoff 3 with the U. of Miami Symphony and John Bitter
​
In December 1957, a Cuban newspaper, Diario de la Marina, reported that after a tour of seven months in the USA 'the famous pianist has returned to Havana'. He had covered 30,000 miles in an automobile from coast to coast, as he reported at the airport on disembarking from a Viscount de Cubana de Aviacion flight via Miami. ​​
​​
15 October 1957
Carnegie Hall, NYC. (JB's 10th appearance)
Schubert's Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960 (1828) - something not often to be found in his repertoire (?) - and a selection of Liszt's Études d’exécution transcendante, S. 139.
​
9 November 1957
Royal Festival Hall, London
Brahms' second Piano Concerto with conductor Henry Krips [with the Royal Philharmonic]
​
Spanish newspaper Libertad 25 November 1957 records that Jorge had great success in the past week in Madrid, with the Orquesta de Valencia under José Iturbi. "He will offer us [in Valladolid] the same programme as his Carnegie Hall recital a month ago."
1958-59
1 February 1958
New York City
Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 and the first Liszt concerto.
New York Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein
​
7 October 1958
Theatre of the University of Puerto Rico, San Juan PR.
Haydn (Piano Sonata in E-flat Major, H.XVI:52), Franck (Prélude, choral et fugue [1884]), Chopin (4 Scherzos).
22 October 1958
Carnegie Hall, NYC
Programme as 7th
​
25 November, 1958
Constitution Hall, Washington DC
John LaMontaine, Piano Concerto (premiere)
​
2 December 1958
Auditorium, Havana: recital for Pro-Arte. Schubert's B flat major sonata D960 and a election of Liszt's Transcendental Etudes.
​
4 December 1958
Florida Gymnasium, U. of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
​
12 December 1958
Northrop Auditorium, Minneapolis
John LaMontaine concerto with Minneapolis Symphony
The next stop, Grand Junction, Colorado.
​
Promotional material stated that Bolet had an annual European tour (England, Germany, Holland) in January/February 1959 and in America during March/May. Nederlandsche Concertdirektie J. Beek, Koninginnegracht 82, the Hague was Jorge's exclusive agent for Europe; annual tours were in January and February.
​​
11 January 1959
Royal Festival Hall, London
Rachmaninoff 3 with LSO and Walter Goehr
​
12 January 1959
Delft, Holland
Het Residentie Orkest under Louis Stotijn
​
14 January 1959
Concertgebouw, Amsterdam: recital.
Beethoven, Liszt, Ginastera, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev.
​
15 January 1959
Diligentia, The Hague, Holland
Recital
​
18 January 1959
Hochschule für Musik, Berlin
Tchaikovsky
Berliner Symphonisches Orchester, W.Steiner
20 January 1959
solo recital in the Städtisches Konservatorium, Berlin.
​
March 1959
Brigham Young University, Salt Lake City, Utah
Transcendental Etudes of Liszt
​
7 April 1959
Akron Armory, Akron, Ohio
Liszt, Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major with Hungarian maestro George Szell and The Cleveland Orchestra.
​
15 April 1959
Junior High School Auditorium, Salem, Ohio
​
6 May 1959
Universitetets Aula (University Hall), Oslo, 'the world-famous Cuban pianist Jorge Bolet comes to Norway for the first time'. (Aftenposten).
Liszt's B minor sonata
​
20 May 1959
Mozart-Saal, Wiener Konzerhaus (Vienna)
He last appeared here (and in Vienna?) in 1935. Ludwig van Beethoven, 32 Variationen c-moll über ein eigenes Thema WoO 80 (1806); Franz Liszt, Sonate h-moll S 178 (1852–1853); Alberto Ginastera, Sonate Nr. 1 op. 22 (1952); Sergej Rachmaninoff, Prélude F-Dur op. 32/7 (1910), Prélude f-moll op. 32/6 (1910); Prélude Ges-Dur op. 23/10 (1903); Sergej Prokofjew, Toccata d-moll op. 11 (1912).​
​
6 July 1959
Robin Hood Dell, Philadelphia
Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff with Alexander Hilsberg conducting
9 /10 October 1959
Symphony Hall, Boston
Variations Symphoniques by César Franck with the Boston Symphony under Charles Munch in . (In the first half he had played John LaMontaine's concerto) Jorge told friends that this 1959 performance of the Franck with Munch had been the finest concerto collaboration of his career - 'a meeting of minds'.
​​​​​​​​​​​​​17 November 1959
Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Kansas City Philharmonic Orchestra & Hans Schwieger
​
3/4 December 1959
Tower Theater, Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta SO and Henry Sopkin.