1970-73
9 February 1970
Municipal Theater, Tulsa, Oklahoma [broadcast on Voice of America]
Rachmaninoff 3 [+ Camargo Guarnieri, Brasiliana (1950)]
Tulsa Philharmonic /Franco Autori
I wonder if the CG piece is in fact Symphony No. 4 Brasilia (1963). 'The orchestra's music for Monday's Voice of America concert didn't arrive; the guest soloist, the conductor, and the concertmaster all caught the flu – and for a while, nobody would answer the phone in Rio. It was raining too hard. But the muse of music works in strange ways. Other Brazilian music was found, the guest soloist was substituted. Maestro Franco Auturi recovered. The music opriginally planned for the concert, Ludus Symphonicus, by Edino Krieger didn't arrive, although ordered December 1st. Overseas calls to Brazil to the music company approved interesting because officials they didn't speak, English and Maestro Auturi's command of five languages doesn't include Portuguese.' Tulsa World (8.2.1970). Jorge replaced Alexis Weissenberg.
14 February 1970
Long Beach, Orange County, Florida
Liszt, Tchaikovsky
Long Beach Symphony/Alberto Bolet
11 March 1970
Charleston, South Carolina
13 March 1970
Fine Arts auditorium, de Kalb, Illinois
Beethoven 32 Variations, 2 sonatas
(cancelled?)
16 March 1970
High School, Midland, Texas (Odessa Civic Concert Assoc.)
20 March 1970
Alhambra High auditorium, Phoenix , Arizona
Chopin Ballades, Liszt Sonata, Hungarian Rhapsody No.12
21 March 1970
Scottsdale High auditorium, Arizona
Haydn, E flat sonata, Schumann Etudes Symphoniques, Beetoven appassionata, Liszt "Au bord d'une source", Hungarian Rhapsody No.12
19, 20 May 1970
Constitution Hall, Washington DC
Beethoven 3
National Symphony/Paul Paray
"Technically sound and judicious, but somehow it never caught fire"
5 July, David Saperton dies in Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
22 August 1970
Grant Park, Chicago
Tchaikovsky 1 (which was moved up an hour so as not to compete with the lakeside fireworks)
Irwin Hoffman
'Jorge dropped quite a lot of notes and many younger pianists would accuse him of spanking - if not beating - his instrument. But when he had finished, I thought I saw a veil of blue smoke hovering above the keyboard, and wild response of the audience also indicated approval' Peter Gorner, Chicago Tribune
3 October 1970
Hunter College, NYC
Benefit concert for IPL
Jorge contributed a pair of Liszt operatic paraphrases (on Donizetti's Lucia di Lamermoor & Verdi's Rigoletto)
17 October 1970
Dreher High School, Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia Philharmonic
11 October 1970
University of Indiana at Bloomington
19 December 1970
Washington Irving High School NYC
1971
31 January 1971
Fair Lawn High School, Fair Lawn, New Jersey, USA
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.31 in A-flat major, Op.110
Liszt: 12 Études d’exécution transcendante, S.139: 7. Eroica, 5. Feux Follets, 9. Ricordanza, 8. Wilde Jagd
Chopin: 24 Preludes, Op.28
Encores: Schumann/Liszt: Widmung, Op.25 No.1 (S.566), Chopin: Waltz in D-flat major, Op.64 No.1 (Minute Waltz)
On 18 February, Jorge arrived in Fuenterrabia, northern Spain, where he and Tex rented a home.
4 March 1971
Philharmonie, Berlin
Chopin, Preludes Op.28, Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise brillante; Brahms Handel Variations
30, 31 May/ 1 June 1971
Grosser Sendesaal, Masurenallee, Berlin
Tchaikovsky 1
RSO Orchestra/ James de Priest
[+ Werner Egk, Französisches Suite nach Rameau (1949) & Bartók, Concerto for Orchestra]
The Miami Herald 17 October 1971 records that Jorge (who will give a recital on Saturday evening) has been missing from the local scene for a decade; he was last heard here in the small Binder-Baldwin concert hall in 1963.
11 August 1971
University of Indiana at Bloomington
21 September 1971
Liszt's Totentanz
New York Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez
12 & 17 October 1971
Philharmonic Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City
Prokofiev 2
Leopold Stokowski & American Symphony Orchestra
11, 12, 15 November 1971
Philharmonic Hall / Manhattan, New York City
Liszt / Fantasy on Motifs from Beethoven's Ruins of Athens, for Piano and Orchestra
Chopin / Andante spianato and Grand Polonaise Brilliante for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 22
with Michael Tilson Thomas
Pre-concert recital on Monday 15th (some of which is available on Marston CDs but dated to 11th)
Schubert / Winterreise, D.911 "Der Lindenbaum"
Schubert / "Wohin?" No. 2 from Die schöne Mullerin, D.795
Schubert / "Das Wandern" from Die schöne Mullerin, D.795 (Op. 25) (Liszt, Franz)
Wagner / "The Spinning Song" from Der Fliegende Holländer, WWV 63, arranged for piano (Liszt, Franz)
Liszt / Grand galop chromatique
Encore: Schumann/Liszt: Widmung, Op.25 No.1 (S.566)
28-30 November 1971
Grosser Sendesaal, Masurenallee, Berlin
Liszt 1
RSO Orchestra/Lawrence Foster
1972
5 February , 1972
Alice Tully Hall, New York City,
Chopin, 4 Ballades
Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor, S.178 & Rhapsodie Espagnole, S.254
14 March 1972
Philharmonie, Berlin
Schumann, Fantasy in C Op.15, Debussy Images, Liszt, Spanish Rhapsody etc.
In March 1972 Jorge recorded the Sgambati Concerto in G minor in Nuremberg - Colosseum Musikstudios with Ainslee Cox and the Nürnberg Symphoniker.
On 18 April 1972, Leopold Stokowski celebrated his 90th birthday (he was actually 93 or 94 but had mischievously shaved a few years off his age). At a party at the Plaza Hotel, New York City, among musical items, Jorge played a Ballade of Chopin
2 August 1972
Sheep Meadow (Central Park), New York City, New York
Liszt: Piano Concerto No.1 in E-flat major, S.124
Jean Martinon / New York Philharmonic Orchestra
7 October 1972
Washington Irving High School, New York City
Haydn: Andante & Variations in F minor, Hob.XVII:6 (Un Piccolo Divertimento), Sonata No.62 in E-flat major, Hob.XVI:52; Beethoven: Sonata No.23 in F minor, Op.57 (Appassionata); Liszt: Funérailles, S.173 No.7 (from Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses); Rhapsodie Espagnole, S.254
9 November 1972, solo recital: Munich, Germany
29 November 1972
Schubert Club, O'Shaughnessy Auditorium, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jorge replaces at 24 hours' notice an indisposed Alexander Slobodyanik at the .
incl. Beethoven's Appassionata, Haydn Variations
1973
21/22 January 1973
Auditorium della Conciliazione, Rome.
Beethoven's fourth concerto
Guido Ajmone-Marsan and the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
28 January 1973
Hunter College, New York City.
Four Scherzos (Chopin), Three “Petrarch” Sonnets (Liszt), “Tannhäuser” Overture (Wagner‐Liszt)
Hunter College, NYC on 17 February 1973.
15 March 1973
London
City of Birmingham Symphony under French conductor Louis Frémaux (1921-2017)
8 May 1973
Butler University Romantic Festival, Clowes Memorial Hall, Indianapolis.
Recital programme of Rachmaninoff and Liszt transcriptions
Jorge's carnival piece, Godowsky's Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes from Die Fledermaus can be heard on Marston CDs Volume 2 from a performance on 17 May 1973, in Cologne/Köln, Germany.
Jorge gives an account of his time just before departing for South Africa in May 1973. 'After my recent Bakersfield, California concert with Alberto, I had five days of dashing across the country, from there to Saratoga, then on to San Francisco, New York, Indianapolis and then across the Atlantic to London. Almost as bad was last week's routine. I had two performances in Lübeck, Germany, the last one ending late at night, and then snatched a few hours sleep before leaving shortly after six the next morning for Bremen where recording sessions started at the radio station at 10am.'
25 May 1973
Lunchtime all-Liszt recital in Pretoria, South Africa at the Musaion
27 May
Johannesburg Civic Theatre: recital
included Brahms' Sonata in F minor op.5, and Liszt's Gnomereigen, Tannhäuser overture and two encores, Liebesträum 3 and Widmung.
29/30 May 1973
Johannesburg City Hall
Grieg concerto
SABC Orchestra/ Edgar Cree
He will also perform in Durban (4/5 June) and Cape Town (7 June)
10 June 1973
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
*This is the British début of Earl Wild. (I was surprised to learn it was so late in his - admittedly long - career. It was an all-Liszt recital, including one of this pianist's favourites, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 4. The Evening Standard (23 March 1973) carried a review of a television programme with the LSO and Andre Previn in which "a piano scherzo by Scharwenka - so dizzying that a Scharwenka man Earl Wild had to be imported from the States to play it."
5. Juli 1973
Berlin Philharmionic/Wolfgang Balzer
Franz Liszt: Klavierkonzert Es-Dur
19 August 1973
Caramoor Festival, Katonah, New York
Liszt
August 1973
Maryland Piano Festival.
Stewart Gordon had said that 'In 1973, I learned that Bolet had not played a recital in the Washington D.C. area for more than ten years, an unbelievable fact considering the scope of his career. The Festival audience was waiting in great anticipation for him to step out on stage and play.' He began with Chopin's 4 scherzos, and there was a even standing ovation after No. 2 in B flat minor!
25 August 1973
Gibraltar Auditorium, Fish Creek, Wisconsin.
Sgambati, Concerto in G minor
with Thor Johnson
5 October 1973
Meister-Klavierabend Philharmonie, Berlin
Chopin Barcarolle, Fantasie f-moll, Sonate h-moll Liszt Petrarca-Sonette
10/11 October 1973
Colston Hall, Bristol, England
Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor Op.30
Bournemouth Symphony / Paavo Berglund
12 October 1973
Exeter, England
Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor Op.30
8, 9 November 1973
Clowes Memorial Hall of Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana
Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor Op.30
Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra/ Izler Solomon
4 December 1954, first appearance in five years in Orchestra Hall, Chicago with the Chicago SO. [?]
1974-75
23 January 1974 (aged 59)
Victoria Hall,, Geneva, Switzerland
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande/Wolfgang Sawallisch
25 January 1974
University Hall, Fribourg, Switzerland
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16 Orchestre de la Suisse Romande/Wolfgang Sawallisch
14 February, 1974
Delaware, Ohio
Same programme as 24 February
25 February 1974 (aged 59)
Carnegie Hall, New York City
Bach/Busoni: Chaconne from Violin Partita No.2 in D minor, BWV 1004
Chopin: 24 Preludes, Op.28
Tausig: Valse-Caprice No.2 after J. Strauss II’s waltz Man lebt nur einmal!
Tausig: Valse-Caprice No.1 after J. Strauss II’s waltz Nachtfalter
Schulz-Evler: Arabesques on J. Strauss II’s waltz An der schönen blauen Donau
Wagner/Liszt: Overture to Tannhäuser, S.442
Encores:
Chopin: Nocturne in F-sharp major, Op.15 No.2
de Schlözer: Concert Etude in A-flat major, Op.1 No.2
Moszkowski: La Jongleuse, Op.52 No.4
Rubinstein: Etude in C major, Op.23 No.2 (Staccato)
*The recital was recorded by RCA
28 February 1974
Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh, USA
Beethoven, Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor
with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
(Jorge replaced an indisposed Radu Lupu)
7 April 1974
Frick Collection, New York City
incl. four Debussy Preludes and Chopin's Fantasy in F minor Op.49, Beethoven's Sonata No. 17 in D Minor, Op. 31, No. 2 'Tempest' and Chopin's Barcarolle in F-Sharp Major, Op. 60
Joseph Marx Concerto in May 1975 in New York [?]
26 May 1974
Arnhem, Holland (Festival of Romantic Music)
incl. J.Strauss II/Schulz-Evler, Blue Danube. On the Marston 6 CD set of Bolet, Ambassador from the Golden Age, we can hear selections from Jorge's concert on 26 May: Franck's Prelude, Aria, and Finale, Saint-Saëns/Godowsky, The Swan & Paul de Schloezer's ("Paul de who?!") knuckle-breaking étude.
28 May 1974
Arnhem, Holland (Festival of Romantic Music)
Sgambati Concerto in G minor
Gederland Symphony Orchestra under Leo Driehuys.
As an encore, he played the massive Wagner-Liszt Tannhauser Overture.
6 July 1974
Venetian Theatre, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts,Katonah, New York.
Beethoven 4 with Julius Rudel
13, 15 October, 1974
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Sgambati: Piano Concerto in G minor, Op.15
Rachmaninoff, Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini
Liszt: Fantasy on Hungarian Folk Songs for Piano & Orchestra, S.123
Ainslee Cox / Oklahoma City Symphony Orchestra
27 October 1974
92nd Street Y, New York City
Recital
A benefit for the International Piano Archives, which is trying to raise $250,000 to purchase and remodel a small building on the upper West Side for its headquarters.
incl. Liszt's “Funérailles", Chopin's Sonata in B minor (Op. 58), “Hungarian Rhapsody” No. 12
30 October 1974
Royal Festival Hall, London
Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23
Bournemouth Symphony/ Paavo Berglund
13 November 1974
Philharmonie, Berlin
Mendelssohn Prelude and Fugue in E minor, Variations sérieuses, Chopin, Sonata in B minor; Liszt, Funérailles, 6 Consolations, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12
c.19 November 1974
Helsinki, Finland??
Beethoven 4
Paavo Berglund
9 December, 1974
Royal Festival Hall, London.
Gala concert for the International Piano Library (nowadays International Piano Archives at Maryland)
In late 1974, Jorge was one of the judges - his only time - on the Concurso Latinoamericano de piano Teresa Carreño in Caracas, Venezuela. He made a number of concert appearance in Caracas.
1975
3 January 1975
Neumann Auditorium, Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa.
19 January 1975
Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia
Recital including Chopin, Frédéric, 1810-1849. Sonata, piano, no. 3, op. 58, B minor
29 January 1975
Auditorium Dufour, Quebec City, Canada
Liszt's first concerto
Orchestre Symphonique de Québec and Franco Mannino.
He said he was due soon to play six concerts in six days with the Bamberg Symphony in Germany ('the country in which I most often play at the moment') conducted by none other than eminent baritone singer Dietrich Fischer Dieskau; he adds that his season consists of 85 concerts.
6, 7, 8 and 11 February 1975
Avery Fisher Hall, NYC
Rachmaninoff / Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
New York Philharmonic and Bernard Haitink
18 February 1975
Meistersingerhalle, Nuremberg
Chopin's first concerto
Bamberg Symphoniker under Dietrich Fischer Dieskau
27 February 1975
Braunschweig, West Germany (Radio Broadcast
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major
Heinz Wallberg / Nord-Deutschen Rundfunks Sinfonieorchester.
A rare mention of Bolet in the Ravel concerto
8 March 1975
Lincoln Center - Avery Fisher Hall, New York City.
A short recital in the middle of a New York Philharmonic concert (Pierre Boulez, a mini-festival around Schubert), which included a rare item in Jorge's repertoire, Czech composer Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek's (1791-1825) Impromptu No. 5 in E Major, Op. 7 (on Marston CDs volume 2).
13 April 1975
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major
Reading Symph. Orch. (Berks County, Pennsylvania) under Louis Vyner (1907-1981), who had conducted Jorge in the early 1930s
23 February 1975
Grote Zaal, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.
incl. Chopin's Barcarolle in F# major (Op.60), Liszt's three Petrarch sonnets (from Années de Pélerinage), Chopin's Sonata in B minor opus 58
Reviewer Rutger Schoute thought 'the storm passage in the Barcarolle churned up the Venetian waters as if Chopin had imagined wind force 8 or 9'. (De „storm"-pasage in de Barcarolle joeg bijvoorbeeld de Venetiaanse wateren op alsof Chopin an windkracht 8 of 9 had gedacht.)
NRC Handelsblad titled its review: 'Jorge Bolet: soms leeuw, soms musicus' (sometimes lion, sometimes musician)
27 February, 1975
Braunschweig, West Germany [?date of radio broadcast]
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major
Heinz Wallberg / Nord-Deutschen Rundfunks Sinfonieorchester
19 March 1975
Alice Tully Hall, New York
Hummel, Piano Concerto in A flat (Op. 113)
1 May 1975
Geneva, Switzerland
Brahms' second concerto
Silvio Varviso/ Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, Switzerland
2 May 1975
Palais des Congrès, Bienne (Switzerland)
Brahms' second concerto
Silvio Varviso/ Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, Switzerland
R. Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel; Bohuslav Martinů: Concerto for two string orchestras, piano and timpani (JB did not presumably play the piano for the Martinů)
6/7 May 1975
New Orleans Theater of the Performing Arts
Rachmaninoff 3
New Orleans Symphony & Werner Torkanowsky
The Sea Coast Echo adds that 'last season marked Bolet's 36th anniversary on the concert stage. He has performed with the New Orleans Symphony four times in the past; his first appearance here took place just over 30 years ago, in January 1945.'
29, 30 and 31 May 1975
Lincoln Centre, NYC
Rachmaninoff / Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
New York Philharmonic under Andre Kostelanetz
18 [?] July 1975
Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles
Franck's Symphonic Variations and Liszt's Hungarian Fantasy
25 July 1975
Carriage House Theater, Villa Montalvo, Saratoga, California
9 August 1975
Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, New York
Summer of Music on the Hudson
Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23
The County Symphony
Early September 1975
Haydn Conference/Festival, Esterházy Castle, Eisenstadt, Austria
Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Concerto for piano and orchestra in A flat major op. 113
17 September 1975
São Paulo, Brazil
recital
19 and 21 September 1975
Teatro Municipal de São Paulo, Brazil
Rachmaninoff's Paganini Variations
OSESP (Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo) under Gerard Devos
23 September 1975 [?]
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
recital
26 September 1975
Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Bach/Busoni, Chopin, Strauss and Wagner-Liszt.
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 Fantasy
30 September 1975 [?]
Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Liszt 1 and 2
25 October 1975
University of Exeter, England
Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No.1 in B flat minor Op.23
Bournemouth Symphony under Paavo Berglund
Jorge's performance of Mozart/Liszt, Réminiscences de Don Juan, S. 418 can be heard on Marston CDs Volume 2, from a performance on 9 November 1975, New York City.
6 November 1975
Hunterdon Central High School, Flemington, New Jersey
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra/ Henry Lewis
21 November 1975
Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi, Milan, Italy
Chopin: Three Mazurkas, Op.59, Three Nocturnes, Op.9, 2 Etudes, Op.25
Liszt: Three Concert Etudes, S.144, Réminiscences de Don Juan (Mozart), S.418
Previous visit to Milan was in May 1935 during his European début.
24/ 25 November 1975
Teatro Comunale, Bologna, Italy
Chopin, Three Nocturnes Op. 9, Three Mazurkas op. 56, Three Mazurkas op. 59, Twelve studies op. 25, Ballades op. 23, op. 38, op. 47, op. 52.
23, 26, 27, 28 November 1975
Other performances in Budrio, Faenza (23), Modena (27/28), Parma (Italy), according to the Bologna website.
In late November/early December 1975, Jorge gave recitals near his home in Fuenterrabia in northern Spain: Santander and Bilbao.
1 December 1975
Bilbao
2 December 1975
Santander
4 December 1975
Malaga (in the south, Andalusia)
E. Velez Camarero in Ritmo: revista musical ilustrada (1.12.75), reviewing the former, did not much care for "arrangements". Bach in his Chaconne must be respected at all costs; Strauss waltzes lose all their colour and charm when arranged, and the Tannhäuser overture is intolerable, 'even if it concerns a very illustrious relative [father-in-law Liszt]', pues que es intolerable, aunque es trate de un muy ilustre familiar.
9 December 1975
Philharmonie, Berlin
Chopin, Polonaises C sharp minor, E flat minor [Op.26/1 & 2), F sharp minor, Op. 44 (1840-41); Reger/Telemann Variations, Liszt, Don Juan Fantasy
First mention of Reger/Telemann...?
15 December 1975
Carnegie Hall: 50th anniversary celebration of the W. W. Naumburg Foundation.
'Where else in a lifetime of concert-going could a comparable cast be savoured at a single concert? Jorge Bolet and Andre‐Michel Schub in Liszt's “Don Juan” Reminiscences for two pianos. The youngest winner was Mr. Schub, who won last year's first prize.'
Harold C Schonberg
Walking back to my hotel, I happened to pass the Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires: 25 September 2025, see 26 September 1975!
1976 South Africa & Japan
3, 4 January 1976
Performing Arts Center, Uihlein Hall, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Prokofiev 2
Milwaukee Symphony/Kenneth Schermerhorn
10 January 1976, Bolet left for a tour of South Africa, with concerts in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Windhoek (Namibia since March 1990), Pietermaritzburg, Durban, Salisbury, Rhodesia. He flew back to the US on 20 February.
23 January 1976
Pretoria
On 26 January 1976, the Rand Daily News reported that 'because the new concert grand for Pretoria's City Hall did not arrive in time for Jorge Bolet's PACT concert [Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal] this weekend, a piano had to be hired from J'burg.
25 January 1976
Johannesburg City Hall
Liszt's Concerto in A major and Hungarian Fantasy
The conductor was the young Russian Israeli Shmuel Freidman.
(Same programme in Pretoria on either 23 or 27 January)
26 January 1976
Johannesburg
recital: Strauss/Tausig, Mozart/Liszt Don Juan, Bach/Busoni, Ciaccona, Chopin, Preludes Op.28
27 [30?] January 1976
City Hall, Pretoria
Brahms 2
2(?) February 1976
Bloemfontein
1 February 1976
Johannesburg [?]
Brahms's 2nd piano concerto in B flat majora
Pact Symphony Orchestra under Shmeul Friedman
2 February 1976
Windhoek (Namibia since March 1990)
all-Chopin recital (Etudes Op.25 and the four Ballades)
5 February 1976
City Hall, Cape Town/ Kaapstad
Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major & Hungarian Fantasy
with Enrique Garcia Asensio
6 February 1976
Bloemfontein?
9 February 1976
Sanlam Auditorium, Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), Johannesburg
Die Transvaler reported that Bolet had changed his programme: instead of Chopin's second book of Etudes Op.25, he would be playing the Reger/Telemann.
Also:Chopin's polonaises Op.26 and Op.44 and all four Ballades.
11 February 1976
Pietermaritzburg
12 February 1976
Durban
14 February 1976
Harry Margolis Hall, Salisbury, Rhodesia (from April 1980, Harare/ Zimbabwe)
all-Chopin recital (Etudes Op.25 and the four Ballades)
15 February 1976
Johannesburg
23/ 25 February 1976
Dade County Auditorium/Miami Beach Theatre (Florida)
Brahms 2
Greater Miami Philharmonic/Alberto Bolet
29 February 1976
Amsterdam.
incl. Reger's Telemann Variations, Mozart/Liszt Don Juan fantasy
In an interview for the Quad-City Times (Iowa), 5 March 1976, speaking of flights, he usually tells people his home is Frankfurt Airport. His flight from Chicago to Moline was his 77th in the last four months.
5, 6 March 1976
Centennial Hall, Augustana College, Rock Island, Ilinois USA
Prokofiev 2
Tri-City Symphony under James Dixon.
7 March 1976
Davenport Masonic Auditorium, Iowa (Sunday 3pm
Tri-City Symphony under James Dixon.
9 March 1976
Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines, Iowa
(as 17 Mar. 1976)
11 March 1976
Columbia Township auditorium, Orangeburg, South Carolina
17 March 1976
Ambassador College, Pasadena, California
Max Reger's Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Telemann Op.134, Chopin's Polonaise No. 5 Op.44 in F sharp minor (rarely found in JB's repertoire), Liszt/Mozart "Don Juan"
Daniel Cariaga (Los Angeles Times): "Awesome. The pianist from Cuba remains unique: his taste is impeccable, his technique sovereign, his command of the repertory masterful. His playing may be the least self-indulgent in the entire pianistic world."
21 March 1976
Reynolds Auditorium, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Chopin 1, Franck
Piedmont Chamber Orchestra/Nicholas Harsanyi (Hungarian-American, 1913-1987; a pupil of Hubay, Bartók, Dohnányi, Kodály, and Leo Weiner at the Budapest Academy of Music)
20 April
Clowes Hall, Butler University, Indianapolis (9th Romantic Music Festival)
Hummel No.7 in A flat major, Sgambati in G minor Op.15 [introduced by JB in 1971]
Indianapolis Symphony/Oleg Kovalenko (1936, Kyiv - 2025)
Despite the national coverage that the festival had been gaining, the whole was only half full. The festival concluded with Adolphe Adam's ballet Les Mohicans (1837) based upon James Fenimore Cooper's "Last of the Mohicans", which had only been heard a couple of times since Paris in the 1830s
22 April 1976
McKay Auditorium, Tampa, Florida
Tchaikovsky 1
Florida Gulf Coast Symphony/ Irwin Hoffman
Also at:
23 April 1976, Van Wezel Hall, Sarasota
24 April 1976, Bayfront Theatre, St Petersburg
1 May 1976
Jewish Community Center, White Plains, New York
Benefit concert & champagne reception
On Saturday, 9 May 1976, Bolet flew from San Francisco to Tokyo for recitals/concertos in Japan on 14, 19, 20, 21 and 22. This was the first time he had been back in Japan since 1946. He was to perform there again in 1988.
14 May 1976
Bunka Kaikan Hall (Ueno Koen, Tokyo)
Bach-Busoni: Chaconne
Chopin: 24 Preludes Op. 28
Liszt: Three Petrarca Sonnets (From "Italy", Second Year of "Year of Pilgrimage")
Mozart-Liszt: "Don Giovanni" Fantasia
An advert for the Tokyo recital on 14 May of 'First visit of keyboard giant to Japan announces the Wagner/Liszt Tannhäuser overture, rather than the Don Juan Fantasy. The Japan Times (8.5.76) announced the recital as being in Tokyo Metropolitan Festival Hall, which is the Bunka Kaikan.
19 and 20 May 1976
NHK Hall, Shibuya Tokyo
Brahms, Piano Concerto No.2 in B flat op.83
Wolfgang Sawallisch and the NHK Symphony Orchestra
21 and 22 May 1976
Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor op.37
Wolfgang Sawallisch and the NHK Symphony Orchestra
25 May 1976
Arlington Performing Arts Center, Santa Barbara, CA
Liszt 2, Hungarian Fantasy {+ Bruckner 3]
Santa Barbara Symphony/Ronald Ondrejka
2 June 1976
Holland Festival, de Doelen, Rotterdam
Rachmaninoff's Paganini Variations
Radio Philharmonisch Orkest /Jean Fournet
Jorge spent 7 weeks (after the Holland Festival) at his hideaway in the Bay of Biscay (Fuenterrabia) though the arid conditions made it disappointing. "For seven weeks we sat on the terrace and cursed the weather." (Ottawa Journal 25 September, 1976)
5 August 1976
Tawes Fine Arts Center, U of Maryland, Baltimore
Liszt, Reger
JB had planned this but the pianist who was scheduled to appear got stranded in Europe.
27 September 1976
L'Institut Canadien in Québec City, Canada:
Haydn's E flat major Sonata, Schumann, Carnaval Op. 9 and the third sonata of Brahms in F minor (Op. 5).
Of one of his encores there is the charming comment: 'Généreux, Jorge Bolet a également présenté, avec un chic sans pareil, une "Valse Caprice” [Liszt] qui pourrait bien être de Mozkovsky.' ('He played - with an unequalled elegance and style - a Valse Impromptu by Liszt that could have been by Moriz Moszkowski.').
30 September, 1976, Ottawa, Ontario
Rachmaninoff 2 with Mario Bernardi in Rachmaninoff 2
He had last appeared in the city in November 1954. A pianist "whose playing was a monument to restraint [and] whose talents are no longer in full bloom", wrote Maureen Peterson in the Ottawa Journal. His performance was full of reflective nostalgia. "The tremendous warmth of Mr Bolet's touch gives u s a sweetness that has inner strength." Playing of utter discretion and soulfulness. "If his playing is no longer what it was, it is still an invaluable lesson in musical refinement." Two other papers were less generous, one feeling the audience had been cheated of the Rachmaninoff Experience.
5 October 1976
Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth, New Hampshire
(as 27 Sept. 1976)
12 October 1976
Klein zaal/ deOosterpoort, Groningen, Holland:
Joseph Haydn, Sonata in Es (Hoboken 16 no. 52); Robert Schumann, „Carnival" opus 9 Johannes Brahms, Sonata in f opus 5
20 October 1976
Teatro Real, Madrid (Haydn, Schumann, Liszt)
29 October 1976
Philharmonie, Berlin
Haydn, Sonata E-flat major; Schumann, Carnival; Brahms, Sonata in F minor op. 5.
12 November 1976
Town Hall, NYC
Gala
10/11 December 1976
Centennial Concert Hall, Winnipeg, Canada
Liszt's Hungarian Fantasy and Prokofiev 2
Winnipeg Symphony under Piero Gamba
1977
It is usually said that Bolet finally made a return to United Kingdom in 1977 for regular concerts, but he had visited periodically in the early 1970s. *See: March, October 1973, October, December 1974, October 1975.
15, 16 January 1977
Jorge's date book notes rehearsals ("ensayos") in Caracas, Venezuela
17 February 1977 (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-Impromptu, S.213 and Saint-Saëns/Godowsky: The Swan (from Carnival of the Animals).
25 February 1977
Royal Albert Hall, London
Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor, Op.18
New Philharmonia and Yoav Talmi
He would appear there again on 6 October with Talmi and the LPO in Beethoven's Emperor Concerto.
14 March 1977
Teatro Tapia, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Haydn, Sonata No. 62 in E-flat major, Hob. XVI/52, Schumann's Carnaval Op.9 and Liszt (Petrarch Sonnets, Don Juan Fantasy).
It looks as if his previous appearance on the island was way back in October 1958.
23 April 1977
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Sioux Falls Symphony Orchestra/James Maclnnes
29/30 April 1977
Music Hall, 1241 Elm Street, Cincinnati, Ohio
Hummel, Piano Concerto in A flat major op. 113, Chopin, Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise (piano only)
Cincinnati Symphony/Thomas Schippers (Music Director)
3 May 1977
Carnegie Hall, NYC
an all-Liszt recital which included the Sonata in B Minor, S.178 and Mozart/Liszt, Réminiscences de Don Juan, S.418
11 May 1977
Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland
*The same programme as the famous Carnegie Hall 1974 recital
Jorge was staying at the famous North British Hotel, Edinburgh. The North British Station Hotel, opened in 1902 and now known as The Balmoral, is a luxury 5-star landmark at 1 Princes Street, Edinburgh. Designed in a Victorian/Scots Baronial style, it is famous for its clock tower, which runs three minutes fast to ensure passengers catch trains from adjacent Waverley Station. And Waverley Station is the only station in the world to be named after a novel (by Sir Walter Scott).
12 May 1977
City Hall, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
15 June 1977
Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden
Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Sixten Ehrling.
It seems this was Jorge's first appearance again in the Swedish capital since June 1964.
There was a tour of Central (and possibly South) America in July 1977. On Saturday 2 July, Bolet had left for Mexico on AeroMéxico.
8 July 1977
Palacio de Bellas Artes, México City
Haydn sonata in E flat major, Schumann’s Carnaval, Liszt’s Sonnetti di Petrarca and Don Juan fantasy.
11 July 1977 (a date of the 5th is also given)
Teatro Degollado, Guadalajara (Jalisco, Mexico) recital
(replacing an indisposed fellow Cuban Horacio Gutierrez)
In a concert during this week (beginning 3rd June), Jorge replaced Polish-British-Canadian violinist Ida Haendel (1928-2020) who had cancelled due to the death of her mother. 'In her place the Cuban pianist Jorge Bolet played Liszt's First Concerto.
The concert was with the Filarmónica de las Americas under Polish conductor Stanisław Skrowaczewski, and was completed with Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin [A csodálatos mandarin, Op. 19, Sz. 73 (BB 82)] and Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony in F minor.
Jorge flew back on Saturday 9th to San Francisco. Was this flight (noted in his date-book) changed to accommodate the recital on 11th in Guadalajara? Or was the recital actually on the 5th?
On 16 July, Jorge arrived in the morning in Sydney on a Qantas flight from San Francisco via Honolulu, then continued immediately on to Adelaide, arriving at five o'clock in the evening. This was his second visit to Australia, the first being in 1965.
19 July 1977
Adelaide Town Hall: recital
After Launceston (Tasmania), he went to Melbourne, for Rachmaninoff's second concerto with Willem van Otterloo
Then Geelong, Broken Hill - an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, near the border with South Australia - thence to Sydney.
8 August 1977
Sydney Opera House
Chopin's third sonata and the Mozart/ Liszt Don Juan.
This would have been rather special as it will have been the first time Jorge had seen the new Opera House (1973). 'The sun did not know how beautiful its rays were, until it saw them reflected upon the roof of Sydney Opera House.'
Newcastle, NSW
?
12 August 1977
Town Hall, Wollongong
Recital
13 August 1977
Sydney Opera House
Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23
with David Zinman.
17-24 August 1977
Sydney Opera House
Brahms' Concerto No.2 in B flat and Rachmaninoff-Paganini (depending on Red/Blue series)
Willem van Otterloo
27 August 1977
Brisbane, City Hall
Concerto performed with David Zinman
29 August 1977
City Hall, Toowoomba, Queensland
Recital
31 August 1977
Adelaide
Concert with Elyakum Shapirra
6 September 1977
Perth Concert Hall, Perth, Western Australia
Recital
9/10 September 1977
Rachmaninoff 3
West Australian SO & Elyakum Shapirra
11 September 1977: departs Sydney by air.
2 October 1977
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Beethoven's Sonata No. 23 Op. 57, Schumann's Carnaval & Liszt's Dante Sonata.
Three Chopin-Godowsky études and a waltz as encores will have acted as a warm-up for the next two days.
3 & 4 October 1977 (aged 62)
Kingsway Hall, London
Recording a selection of Chopin/Godowsky Études and Waltzes.
(The next recording would be of Liszt in December 1978)
19 November 1977
Metropolitan Museum, New York City.
incl. Liszt's 12 Transcendental Etudes
Cristobal Diaz writing in El Mundo 7 November 1982 recalls "an unforgettable night" at the Teatro Tapia, San Juan, Puerto Rico in November 1977. Might he be thinking of March 1977?
14 December 1977
Curtis Hall, Philadelphia
Chopin, Frédéric, Barcarolle, op. 60, F# major; Fantasie, op. 49, F minor.
Schumann, Robert, Carnaval.
Liszt, Franz, Années de pèlerinage, 2e année (Selections)
1978
January 1978, The Netherlands
“The daily food of keyboard lions”
'The American keyboard lion of Cuban descent, Jorge Bolet, is giving a whole series of concerts in our country these days. He will perform with the Utrecht Symphony Orchestra under Willem van Otterloo tonight.
(Apparently Jorge did not care for van Otterloo: when he was informed that he had to play Franck and Weber in Utrecht under the baton of van Otterloo, he told a friend 'I thought they had exiled him to Australia!')
26 January 1978
Tivoli/Vredenburg, Utrecht, Holland
27 January 1978
Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Holland
César Franck's Symphonic Variations
Utrecht Symphony Orchestra under Willem van Otterloo
30 January 1978
Arnhem, Holland
Recital:Etudes by Godowsky. Beethoven's Appassionata, Rachmaninoff's Variations on a Theme by Chopin and Liszt's Dante Fantasy.
31 January 1978
Groningen, Holland
Recital
2 February 1978
De Bilt, Holland
8 February 1978
La Jolla, San Siego, California
Recital
14 February 1978
Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jorge gave a private recital of some two hours to friends, sometimes playing just selected passages. Of great interest is that he played movements 1,3 and 4 of Chopin's Sonata No.2 in B flat minor Op.35, and also Godowsky's weird and wonderful transformation ('Concert Paraphrase', if you will) of Chopin's Grand Valse Brillante Op.18 in E flat
20 & 21 March, 1978
Boettcher Concert Hall in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts
Rachmaninoff/Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini
Denver Symphony Orchestra/ Gaetano Delogu
26 (Easter Sunday) & 27 March 1978
Philharmonie, Berlin
Tschaikowsky, Konzert für Klavier und Orchester Nr. 1 b-moll
conductor Yuri Ahronovitch
March 1978, Jorge performed Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini with Christof Prick conducting the Badische Staatskapelle (Karlsruhe, Germany).
28 March 1978
Malmö, Sweden
21/22 April 1978
Centennial Concert Hall, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Liszt 1, Rachmaninoff 3
Winnipeg SO and Piero Gamba
1 June 1978
Royal Albert Hall, London
Liszt, Piano Concerto No.1 in E Flat
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/ Paavo Berglund
[Symphonic Poems 'Vltava' and 'Sarka', Smetana; Symphony No.4 in F Minor, Op.36, Tchaikovsky]
3 June 1978
Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland
Rachmaninoff 2
Scottish National Orchestra under Sir Alexander Gibson
In July 1978, there was a trip to Brazil for concerts. He took an American Airlines flight on Monday 3 July at 8.30pm, arriving Tuesday morning in Rio de Janeiro.
6 July 1978
Sala Cecilia Meireles, Largo do Lapa, Rio de Janeiro
Funerailles and the 12 Transcendental Etudes
8 July 1978
Palacio Boa Vista, Campos do Jordão, Brazil
Liszt’s Consolations 1and 2, the B minor Sonata, Petrarch Sonnets 47,104 and 123 and the Reminiscences of Don Juan (as part of the Winter Festival)
10/12 July 1978
Casa de Manchete/ Teatro Cultura Artistica, São Paulo, Brazil
recitals
On Thursday 13 he flew on American Airlines flight 251 to Buenos Aires, Argentina, but does not appear to have played in that city in July. On Sunday 16 July, he flew on AA370 to Mexico City (masterclasses on 18, 20 and 21). He presumably gave concerts; his date book mentions Tepotzotlán, 25 miles north-west of Mexico City.
7 August 1978
Murray Theater, Ravinia, Illinois
Bach-Busoni, Schumann, Liszt and Mozart-Liszt
11/12 August 1978
Blossom Music Centre, an outdoor amphitheatre at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat, Op.83
The Cleveland Orchestra under Jerzy Semkow
Jorge had not played with this orchestra in 19 [?] years: see 14 November 1944 and 7 April 1959 (the latter with George Szell).
Strangely, Jorge never performed in the orchestra's Severance Concert Hall on Euclid Ave., only downtown or at its summer home, Blossom Music Center.
16 August 1978
Schloss Esterházy, Eisenstadt, Austria (Haydn Festival)
Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Concerto No.5 in A flat major op. 113
21 August 1978,
Vienna, Austria
concerto/recital?
8, 10 & 12 September 1978
Blaisdell Concert Hall, Honolulu, Hawaii
Chopin 1
with conductor Robert LaMarchina
12 November 1978
Mexico City
Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto
Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México and Polish conductor Andrzej Markowski (Jorge had performed with Markowski in Poland in 1961). But the Baldwin piano had not been secured and crashed off the stage.
25 November 1978
Reichhold Center, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands
Brahms's seven pieces of Op.116, Handel Variation Op.24, Godowsky arrangements of Chopin.
7-9 December 1978
Kingsway Hall, London
Jorge records Liszt: Three Concert Studies S144, Two Concert Studies S145 (Gnomenreigen, Waldesrauschen), and Liszt/Mozart, Réminiscences de Don Juan S418 in , for Decca/L'Oiseau-lyre, with Peter Wadland - who did so much for JB's career - as producer.
The next recording would be Reger/Telemann & Brahms/Handel in February/March 1980
13 December 1978
QEH, London, with the Juilliard Quartet
Haydn Op. 71 no. 1 in B flat, Bartok 2 and Schubert's Trout Quintet (with Donald Palma on double bass)
18 and 19 December 1978
Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress, Washington DC
Juilliard String Quartet's autumn season featured the works of Franz Schubert, in honour of the 150th anniversary of his death
Schubert's "Trout" Quintet (Forellenquintett), the Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667
Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata in G minor, Op.19
Joel Krosnick, cello / Jorge Bolet, piano
In July 1983 in Gramado (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil), Jorge will again take on the piano part in this work.
1979-80
9 January 1979
New Orleans Theater for the Performing Arts
Brahms, Schubert, Liszt, Godowsky.
21 & 23 January 1979
Chrysler Hall, Norfolk, Virginia
Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, Op.11
Russell Stanger / Norfolk Symphony Orchestra
Encore: Schumann/Liszt: Widmung, Op.25 No.1 (S.566)
1, 2, 3, 6 February 1979
Academy of Music, Philadelphia?
Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 3
Philadelphia Orchestra under William Smith
16 February 1979
Carnegie Hall, NYC
Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18 (1900-1901),
NDR Symphony Orchestra of Hamburg and Zdenek Mácal
21 February 1979
Paramount Theatre, Austin, Texas
Brahms Op.116, Schubert Wanderer Fantasy, Liszt Dante Sonata, Chopin/Godowsky
& 5 encores.
3 March, 1979
Carnegie Hall, NYC
Winnipeg SO and Piero Gamba played Carnegie Hall for the first time in an extravaganza.
Jorge was one of four pianists playing Vivaldi/Bach's Concerto in A Minor for 4 harpsichords BWV 1065.
20 March 1979
Philharmonie, Berlin
Brahms Fantasias op. 116, Handel Variations; Chopin Four Ballades
21 April 1979
University of California, Riverside
Recital of Brahms (Fantasies Op.116), Schubert (Fantasy in C major, D.760, Op.15, Wanderer) and Leopold Godowsky
Chopin/Godowsky: Six Etudes
o Op.10 No.5 in G-flat major (Study No.12 in G-flat major | inversion)
o Op.10 No.3 in E major (Study No.5 in D-flat major | for the left hand alone)
o Op.25 No.1 in A-flat major (Study No.25 in A-flat major)
o Op.10 No.6 in E-flat minor (Study No.13 in E-flat minor | for the left hand alone)
o Op.10 No.7 in C major (Study No.15 in G-flat major | Nocturne)
o Op.10 No.1 in C major (Study No.1 in C major)
Godowsky: Two Concert Arrangements of Waltzes by Frédéric Chopin
o Op.64 No.3 in A-flat major
o Op.70 No.3 in D-flat major
Godowsky: Concert Paraphrase on Chopin’s Waltz in E-flat major, Op.18 (*a particularly exotic concoction, which I once thought Jorge never played - apart from his 1977 recording for L'Oiseau-lyre)
10 May 1979
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Chopin, 4 Ballades; Chopin-Godowsky (6 études & 3 waltzes)
Jorge Bolet being presented by de Koos, 'his only London recital this season'.
25 May 1979
Kennedy Center, Washington DC
Liszt, D Flat Consolation, Funerailles and the B Minor Sonata; three Liszt transcriptions of Schubert songs; Don Juan Fantasy.
In June/July 1979, Jorge was in Argentina and Uruguay. He flew on 18 June to Buenos Aires. His date book manetions repertoire (see below but also: Chopin, Barcarolle, Fantasy in F minor Op.49, Sonata No.3, Ballades, Rachmaninoff's third concerto and Weber's Konzertstücke)
10 July 1979
Teatro Solís, Montevideo, Uruguay
21 July 1979
Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, Argentina (his only appearance in this fabled venue.
Bach/Busoni Ciaccona, Liszt's Sonata and his Transcendental Études 7, 6, 12, 9 and 8.
7 August 1979
University of Maryland 9th piano festival, College Park, Maryland
A selection of Godowsky's studies on Etudes by Chopin,"Fantasies, Op. 116" of Brahms, Hungarian Rhapsody No.12 (Liszt)
At the Edinburgh Festival, summer of 1979, Jorge gave masterclasses (advertised in The Times at the end of March as to be held during 24 August-2 September) on Liszt 1, Rachmaninoff Paganini and Brahms 2, all with orchestra.
30 October 1979
Hamburg, Germany
Leopold Godowsky's arrangements of Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, Dante Fantasy.
2 November 1979
Freiburg, West Germany
Liszt: Six Consolations, S.172
12 Études d’exécution transcendante, S.139, in a special order
9 November 197
Elmwood Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland
11 November, 1979
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Liszt, 6 Consolations, Transcendental Etudes.
16-18 November 1979
Long Island Philharmonic, Christopher Keene
21, 23, 24 November 1979
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1
Chicago Symphony/ (Sir) Andrew Davis
The programme for this concert lists Gary Graffman as soloist, but he an injury to his hand in 1977 was causing him gradually to cease performing with his right hand altogether by around 1979, and he was replaced here by Jorge Bolet.
26 November, 1979
Uihlein Hall, Milwaukee
(as 21st etc, Chicago)
1980
"Jorge Bolet who is fast becoming a living legend..." Betty Dietz Krebbs (March 1980)
"I've taken the Liszt E-flat concerto out of my repertoire. I got so tired of playing it. Once it got to be a chore, I decided that's the time to stop." Syracuse Herald (1 Feb. 1980)
18 January 1980
Symphony Hall (1280 Peachtree St.), Atlanta, Georgia
Beethoven, Andante Favori
Brahms, Sonata No.3
Rameau, R.Strauss, Schubert and Weber {Godowsky]
1, 2 February 1980
Crouse-Hinds Theater, Syracuse, New York
Syracuse Symphony/Christopher Keene
Prokofiev 2
4 February 1980
Fort Myers, Florida
6 February 1980
Riverside Theater, Vero Beach (at the Indian river), Miami, Florida
"On a gorgeous new grand the Association has just purchased". Earlier that week, Vincent Price had been doing his one-man Oscar Wilde show)
12-13-16, February 1980
Music Hall, Kansas City, Missouri
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
Kansas City Philharmonic Orch./Maurice Peress
21 February 1980
Town Hall, Birmingham, England
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
CBSO/Erich Bergel
29 February-2 March,1980
In Kingsway Hall, London, JB records:
BRAHMS Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel Op.24
REGER Variations & Fugue on a Theme of Telemann Op.134
A recording which is often forgotten.
18 March 1980
George Washington High School Auditorium, Daneville, Virginia
(as 18 Jan. 1980)
21/22 March 1980
Music Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio
Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor Op.11
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under the young Japanese conductor Kazuhiro Koizumi
'He can play Chopin so soft and sweet you would swear he was stroking a baby's skin.'
(Nancy Malitz, The Cincinnati Enquirer)
27 March 1980
Kansas City Music Hall
William Jewell College presents JB in recital
(as 18 Jan. 1980)
29, 30 March 1980
Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, New York
Franck – Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra
Liszt – Piano Concerto No.2 in A major
Buffalo PO and Irwin Hoffman, guest conductor
2 April 1980
Gano Hall, William Jewell College, Liberty, Missouri
9 April 1980
Alice Tully Hall, NYC
with Guarneri Quartet: Schubert, Quartet in G minor, Faure, Quartet in E minor, Dohnányi, Piano Quintet in C minor.
12 April 1980
Rider College, New Brunswick, New Jersey
18 April 1980
Carnegie Hall, NYC.
The programme included Schumann's Carnaval (Scènes Mignonnes sur Quatre Notes) Op.9, Weber/Godowsky, Contrapuntal Paraphrase on 'Invitation to the Dance' Op.65 and Liszt's Dante Sonata.
Daily News: 'The incredible hulk of the piano, Jorge Bolet will give his usual marathon of...'
22 April 1980
Academy of Music, Philadelphia
(as 18 Apr. 1980)
a marvellous recital, but "oddly, in repertory in which he has made such an impact, Bolet's command was below his own standard." Daniel Webster, Phila. Inquirer
14 May 1980
Bushnell Memorial Hall,166 Capitol Street in Hartford, Connecticut
Grieg Concerto
Hartford Symphony/ Arthur Winograd
15, 16 May 1980
Louisville, Kentucky
In Central & South America
26 May 1980
National Theatre, Panamá City, Panamá
Recital
A newspaper review dated 26 May 1980 (so concert earlier) of a concerto with Armando Krieger and the Orquesta Sinfónica del Sodre (in Montevideo, Uruguay)?
12 June 1980
Teatro Nacional, San José, Costa Rica
Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 4
Conductor Agustín Cullell
24 June 1980
Mann Music Center, Philadelphia (al fresco theatre)
Rachmaninoff 2
Philadelphia Orchestra/Mehli Mehta
27 June 1980
Brigham Young Summer Piano Festival, Provo, Utah
incl. Schumann's Carnaval, Liszt, Dante Sonata and Weber/Godowsky).
(as 18 Apr. 1980)
Heterofonía 70, México (July-September 1980) mentions that JB performed Liszt 1 and the Hungarian Fantasy in Mexico City with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional under Guatemalan conductor and composer Jorge Sarmientos.
26 July 1980
Baxter Concert Hall, Cape Town, South Africa
recital for Cape Town Concert Club (Die Kaapstadse Konsertklub), 16 years since he last played there (Die Transvaler 24.7.80).
3 August 1980
Civic Theatre (Stadskouburg), Johannesburg, South Africa
Recital as Carnegie Hall on 18 April
5 August 1980
Musaion, Pretoria, South Africa
all-Liszt
[?] August 1980
Potchefstroom, South Africa
all-Liszt
7 August 1980, Johannesburg (?), South Africa.
National Symphony Orchestra of the SABC (South African Broadcasting) with the Israeli conductor Elyakum Shapirra
12 August 1980
Esterházy Castle, Eisenstadt, Austria
Recital
15 August 1980
Esterházy Castle, Eisenstadt, Austria
Beethoven's 4th piano concerto in G major Esterházy Castle
25 August 1980
Freemasons Hall, Edinburgh for the Edinburgh International Festival
Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Handel Op.24
Liszt: Petrarch Sonnet 123, Dante Sonata
Weber arr. Godowsky: Invitation to the Dance
The critic of the Dublin Evening Herald, Fanny Feehan, spotted JB in a front seat of the audience at a Claudio Arrau recital at the Usher Hall.
28 September 1980
Brighton, England
Tchaikovsky No. 1
2 October 1980
Hamburg
Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23
Mendelssohn Songs without words, Schumann Carnaval, Chopin Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor
7 October 1980
Woolsey Hall, New Haven, Connecticut
Mozart [No. 15 in B flat major K450]
New Haven Symphony/Murray Sidlin
8-10 October 1980
Andrew jackson Hall, Nashville, Tennessee
Franck, Liszt 2
(replacing Lazar Berman: see 18-28th)
Nashville Symphony
18 October 1980
California Theater, San Bernardino, CA.
Mozart [No. 15 in B flat major K450] and Prokofiev 2
San Bernardino Symphony/ Alberto Bolet
9 November 1980
Metropolitan Museum, New York City
Rachmaninoff 3
16-18 November (Sat/Sun) Vancouver, Canada
Brahms Piano Concerto No.2
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra under Kazuyoshi Akiyama.
He was replacing Lazar Berman, whose cancellation - due to diplomatic difficulties between the US and USSR due to the invasion of Afghanistan - was announced early on the season. [Of Bolet:] "It was like the substitution of one diamond for another of equal or even greater brilliance."
(*Bolet played in Vancouver, for example, on Sunday, 1 November 1953, and was advertised for the 1954-55 season. On 12/13 January 1964 he played Beethoven's fourth piano concerto.)
25 November 1980 (7:30pm)
Recital at Royal College of Music, Manchester, England
incl. Haydn’s E flat sonata, Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No.12, Liszt Sonata, Brahms/Handel variations.
26 November 1980
Vernon Gallery, Preston; same recital as Manchester
28 November 1980
Groningen (Holland) recital
30 November 1980
Amsterdam
Jorge mingled the Ballades and Scherzos of Chopin together.
Ballade No.1 in G minor, Op.23
Scherzo No.1 in B minor, Op.20
Ballade No.2 in F major, Op.38
Scherzo No.2 in B-flat minor, Op.31
...
Scherzo No.3 in C-sharp minor, Op.39
Ballade No.3 in A-flat major, Op.47
Scherzo No.4 in E major, Op.54
Ballade No.4 in F minor, Op.52
2 December 1980
Twickenham, St. Margaret’s Church
Chopin 4 Scherzi, Liszt Sonata and Rhapsody #12.
8 & 9 December 1980
concerto with the orchestra of Stadt Hagen (Germany) and Michael Halasz
10 December 1980
Hamburg recital
HAYDN: Andante and Variations in f; BRAHMS: Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op 24; LISZT: Sonata in B minor; Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12
14 December 1980 (3pm)
Orchestra Hall, Chicago USA
recital