Mexico City, June 1982

Jorge's date book said he flew from New York to Mexico City on 31 May 1982. I’ve just spent an afternoon in the British Library looking through microfilms of a major Mexico City newspaper, El Universal (more to come, hopefully a review). I had originally dated the orchestral concerts to June 1981.

He gave two orchestral performances:

4 & 6 June, 1982

Sala Nezahualcóyotl., Mexico City

Franck, Symphonic Variations

Rachmaninoff, Variations on a theme of Paganini

Enrique Diemecke and the Orquesta Filarmonica de le UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)  

And there was a solo recital on Saturday, 5 June, in the Palacio de la Antigua Escuela de Medecina: Mendelssohn, Schumann and Schubert/Liszt

Mendelssohn, Fantasie in F sharp minor, Op.26 "Scottish"

Schumann Fantasy in C major Op.17

Liszt/Schubert + Mephisto Waltz [?]

Enrique Arturo Diemecke (born July 9, 1952) is a Mexican conductor, violinist and composer. He is currently the Artistic General Director of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and music director of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic and the Flint Symphony Orchestra in Michigan, United States.

Manuel Monroy interviewed JB and reviewed the concerts for El Universal (10.6.1982). Jorge said that he had left his house in California last June (1981) and had still not returned. He had given 24 concerts in 16 cities in Australia, 12 in Germany, and then in Vienna, Holland, Spain, Italy. He will return to England to play at the Edinburgh Festival.. From Mexico, he will go to Lima, Peru for the first time, and from there to Santiago de Chile, Montevideo, Brazil and then he will return to Lima (and thence to the USA for a tour there). Going back and forth from one country to the next is a living hell (hace que la vida se convierta verdaderamente en un infierno): change of food, hotels, climates and customs - overwhelming!. "I plan to retire in two years' time".