19 May 1944 Presidential Room of the Statler Hotel, Washington, D.C. 'Jorge Bolet of the Cuban Army and Pfc. [Private First Class] Erno Valasek [24 year old violinist from Cleveland] of the United States Army Air Forces Band this evening.' Fior the benefit of the American Red Cross. Featured will be Raymond Gram Swing's Fantasia quasi una sonata (in only its third performance). Present will be Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt, Mrs Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, the Cuban Ambassador Aurelio F. Concheso and Señora de Concheso, Count and Countess Stefan Adam Zamoyski. (Count Zamoyski served as an aide-de-camp to Polish Prime Minister-in-exile Wladislaw Sikorski in London during WW2.) Raymond Gram Swing (March 25, 1887 – December 22, 1968) was an American print and broadcast journalist. He was one of the most influential news commentators of his era, heard by people worldwide as a leading American voice from Britain during World War II. He attended Oberlin College in Ohio, where his father was a professor of theology. As a youth, Swing was the proverbial "minister's son" and felt unable to live up to his parents' high expectations. Describing himself during his student days as "a prankster who found freshman math 'totally incomprehensible,'" Swing only lasted for a year at Oberlin. He later expressed gratitude for "how much Oberlin had given me—in music, in the first interest I had in the other arts, and in the basic liberalism of racial and sexual equality." He wrote his violin sonata in 1932 (?) in England, originally composed in part for his musically-precocious 8 year old son Peter, a cellist. The extract below is from his 1964 memoir (the hotel name is incorrect [unless a different performance]. as is the Czech origin of the violinist - Valasek was born in Hungary and brought to Cleveland, Ohio at the age of 6.

1914 Born Havana, Cuba on 15 November to Antonio Bolet Valdés and Adelina Tremoleda de la Paz. c.1925/1926 Aged about nine or ten, Jorge played in the old-fashioned salon in Havana of Mrs Amelia Solberg de Hoskinson. 1926 13 August: first of two benefit concerts for the young Jorge in the Teatro Principal de la Comedia (organised by Maria Jones de Castro) 1927 4 September: second of two benefit concerts for the young Jorge in the Gran Teatro Nacional, Havana. Organised by Amelia Solberg de Hoskinson. 16 September: Jorge sails with his sister Maria Josefa (aged 23) on the SS Governor Cobb to the U.S.A. 27 September/ 6 October 1927: two auditions for the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia. 1927-1934 Jorge is taught at Curtis by David Saperton (1889-1970), son-in-law of the pianist-composer Leopold Godowsky 1928 28 February. Moriz Rosenthal (a pupil of Liszt) gives a recital at Curtis which Jorge probably heard. 1932 29 January. Seventeen-year-old Jorge performs the first movement of Tchaikovsky's B-flat minor concerto with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner at Carnegie Hall, New York City. 1932/33 A few sessions in New York with Leopold Godowsky; Jorge played the composer’s music which he had worked on with Saperton (Java Suite, Fledermaus, Künstlerleben, arrangements of Chopin études, Passacaglia…) 1933-34 Attends The Stony Brook School, Long Island (while still at Curtis). 1934 16 April. Graduation recital in Casimir Hall, Curtis. 9 June 1934. Graduation from The Stony Brook School, August/September: concerts in Havana, often with brother Alberto 1935 March. JB stays in Paris, France. He has a stipend from the Cuban government. His eldest brother Joaquín (Nico) finances a European tour. European début (aged 20) 8 May, Kleine Zaal ('Small Hall') of the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam Followed by Den Haag/The Hague, Berlin, Milan, Vienna, London and Paris (Late 1935) 5 lessons with Moriz Rosenthal (legendary pianist, pupil of Franz Liszt) in Vienna Late 1935/ early 1936 Concerts in Spain (Pamplona, Gijón, Oviedo, Madrid etc.) May. Returns to the USA. Resides (?) with the family of Reverend Donald Barnhouse in Philadelphia. 9 December. First known recording of JB (radio broadcast from the Curtis Institute) 1936-39 There were concerts in the USA, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Dominican Republic. Bolet’s concerts in Havana were for Pro-Arte Musical, for the Lyceum, the Anfiteatro, Teatro La Comedia and the Auditorio, with Havana's Filarmónica and Sinfónica. 1937 27 October. Naumburg Prize recital; Town Hall, New York City 1938 February. Academy of Music, Philadelphia. JB’s début with Philadelphia Orchestra/ Eugene Ormandy. (Rachmaninoff, Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op.30​) 1939 22 December. CMZ and COX radio stations (Havana, Cuba) broadcast Liszt's first concerto with Alberto Bolet / Orquesta Sinfónica de la CMZ. Billed as JB’s"debut radiofónica" (but see December 1936) Early 1940s Raymond Fayette Stover (1894-1979) is a friend and manager. JB’s connection with him may run from the late 1930s to mid-1940s At some stage in these years, JB meets Houston Larimore 'Tex' Compton (1910-1980), who was to be his life-partner until the latter’s death in December 1980. 1940 Assistant to Rudolf Serkin, Head of the Piano Department at Curtis 29 October. Hofmann Award recital, Town Hall, NYC. (Aged 25 yrs 11 months) 1941 31 December. Recital at the Presidential Palace, Havana, 'after which he is to be decorated, we hear, by President Colonel Batista, no less'. 1942 12 January. Auditorio, Havana (Manuel de Falla, Noches en los jardines de España) with Havana Philharmonic/ Massimo Freccia (for this long-lived Italian conductor see also January 1950) 1943 12 April. Havana. Rachmaninoff 3 with Erich Kleiber October (?) JB is awarded the Order of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, a high Cuban distinction. November. During the early stages of World War II, Jorge Bolet is seconded to the Cuban Embassy in Washington as Assistant Military Attaché . 16 December. Constitution Hall, Washington DC. Impromptu recital début in the capital, as Sigmund Romberg's train hadn't arrived. 1944 A Washington DC diplomatic list for May 1944 notes that while he was at the Cuba Embassy, Jorge lived at Dorchester House - a giant apartment building, 2480, 16th Street, N.W., at 16th and Kalorama. April. Andre Mertens and Horace J. Parmelee, heads of the Haensel & Jones division of Columbia Concerts, announce the addition of three new artists, including Lt. Jorge Bolet, Cuban pianist. 14 April. Pan American Day, Hall of the Americas, Washington DC. JB plays Schubert and Latin-American music 8 May. Tilghman High School, Paducah, Kentucky. JB has a chance to fill in for his pianistic idol Josef Hofmann, who cancelled. 4 November. Teatro Nacional, Havana. Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 in B♭ minor, Op. 23 with Erich Leinsdorf in aid of victims of a cyclone. December. Political change in Cuba finally rendered Jorge Bolet’s military commission at the Washington embassy void. The President, Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar’s (1940-44) handpicked successor, Carlos Saladrigas Zayas had been defeated in the election of 1 June 1944 and Batista was succeeded by Ramón Grau San Martín (‘his bitter, bitter enemy’, as JB described him in 1984), who secured a massive popular victory. Dr Grau San Martín, a physician, took office on 10 October. 1945 January/February. Inducted into the U.S. Army. Training at Camp Croft (Spartanburg, South Carolina) and Fort Benning (Columbus, Georgia) The date of enlistment is given as 31 January, 1945 in Baltimore Maryland. 17 March. Spartanburg, South Carolina: Jorge Bolet becomes a US citizen. 1946 Early months. Sent to Tokyo, Japan as part of the U.S. Occupation. 24 May. Ernie Pyle Theatre, Tokyo (*now the Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre, Yurakucho, Chiyoda ward). Recital by Hungarian violinist Fery Lorant and Jorge Bolet. 31 July. Hibiya Hall, Tokyo. Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18. Nippon [later NHK] Philharmonic/ Józef Rosenstock August. Ernie Pyle Theatre. JB conducted performances of The Mikado September. JB is discharged from the Army. He is flown back from Japan at the request of Columbia Concerts. 22 September-December. Tour of Mexico, Central America, the West Indies and South America. 1947 29 January. Recital in the Teatro Capitolio, Ciudad Trujillo (present day Santo Domingo), Dominican Republic April/May (?). Latin American tour ‘which took him as far south as Guatemala and included a ten-week radio engagement in Mexico City.’ 1948 April. JB touring in Cuba (Havana, Cienfuegos, Santa Clara, Camagüey [?]). 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. July. Mexico (?) 1949 c.25 March. Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh. JB replaces Vladimir Horowitz ["a slight indisposition"], for two of three performances of Rachmaninoff's third concerto. Pittsburgh Symphony/ Lorin Maazel or Vladimir Bakaleinikoff. Late 1940s. JB credits work with pianist Abram Chasins for helping his artistic development. JB has described tough times in the late 1940s/50s, years when he was grateful for the many friends who supported him in these ‘ghastly lean years… These were ‘terrible years... great struggle...half-starvation’. 1950 10 January. Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana. Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16. New Orleans Symphony & Massimo Freccia. JB's first public performance of the concerto. 1951/52 'This year Mr Bolet is playing the greatest number of concerts of any pianist with Columbia Artists - 75 in one season.' The Star-News, Wilmington, North Carolina (20 February, 1952). In August 1953, a newspaper announced: JB has travelled 45,000 miles, giving 67 concerts in 38 states during the last 12 months. 1952 10 March. Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar seizes power in Cuba in a military coup. Declaring himself president, Batista cancels the planned presidential elections. 1953 February. 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. The famous Cuban author Alejo Carpentier (1904-1980) wrote a review in El Nacional. April. JB records Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor Op. 16 with the Cincinnati SO under Thor Johnson. 26 July. Fidel Castro initiates an attack on the Moncada Barracks, a military garrison outside Santiago de Cuba, Oriente. Castro's plan emulated those of the 19th-century Cuban independence fighters who had raided Spanish barracks; Castro saw himself as the heir to independence leader José Martí. In the end Castro ordered a retreat. Batista's government proclaims martial law, 1954 April. JB was 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. Europe for the next 6 weeks, according to newspapers. First return to Europe since his 1935 début? 1955 May/June. A tour of Brazil and Argentina, 18 concerts being mentioned. Confirmed: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Buenos Aires. In Buenos Aires in May 1955 there were massive riots. Roman Catholicism was being disestablished. A massacre took place on 16 June 1955. Thirty aircraft from the Argentine Navy and Air Force strafed Plaza de Mayo in the largest aerial bombing ever on the Argentine mainland. The attack targeted the adjacent Casa Rosada ("The Pink House"), the official seat of government, while a large crowd of protestors gathered to demonstrate support for President Juan Perón. The action was to be the first step in an eventually aborted coup d'état. In Cuba (1955), bombings and violent demonstrations led to a crackdown on dissent, with Castro and brother Raúl fleeing the country to evade arrest. 1955 November/December. European tour (cf. 1935, 1954) incl. Denmark, Sweden Holland, Britain. *18 December (aged 41). Royal Festival Hall, London: recital 1956 2 December. Fidel Castro and the 26th of July Movement rebels land on Cuban soil with the intention of starting a revolution. Met by heavy Batista defences, nearly everyone in the Movement is killed, with merely a handful escaping, including Castro, his brother Raúl, and Che Guevara. For the next two years, Castro continues guerrilla attacks and succeeds in gaining large numbers of volunteers. 1957 Random bombings and other sabotage are commonplace across the island of Cuba, and the régime becomes more ruthless in its attempts to retain political control. 1958 25, 26 November. Constitution Hall, Washington DC. John LaMontaine, Piano Concerto (première). National Symphony/Howard Mitchell 2 December. Auditorium, Havana: recital for Pro-Arte. Schubert's B flat major sonata D960 makes a rare appearance on JB’s programmes. His last concert in Cuba? By 1958, perceiving that Batista was absolutely discredited among Cubans of every political affiliation and class, the United States finally imposed an arms embargo against him. In May 1958, his army failed in a final offensive against the guerrillas and began losing territory. On 31 December, New Year’s Eve, Fulgencio Batista flees Cuba with a few of his closest supporters, leaving revolutionary forces free to take control of the capital. 1959 9 January. A victorious Fidel Castro reached Havana. JB never returned to Cuba. Promotional material states that JB has an annual European tour (England, Germany, Holland) in January/February 1959 and in America during March/May. ​​​ January/February. London, Amsterdam, Delft, The Hague, Berlin, Hamburg… May. First appearance in Norway. 1960 11 August. USA premiere of Song without End in New York City, for which JB had performed music by Liszt for the soundtrack. 1961 3 February. JB's television debut, on the Bell Telephone Hour, playing Rhapsody in Blue 26 May -19 June. Poland (Kraków, Katowice, Bielsko-Biała, Szczecin, Gdańsk, Jelenia Góra and Warsaw) 1962 29 May. Recital in the Royal Festival Hall, London 14 & 16 October. Honolulu, Hawaii. Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op.58. JB’s first appearance on the island. 31 October. JB celebrates his 25th Anniversary on North American concert stage in Carnegie Hall. The Cuban Missile Crisis took place from 16 -28 October. This 13-day period was sparked on October 16 when U.S. reconnaissance planes photographed Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. The crisis officially concluded on October 28 when Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to dismantle and remove the weapons 1963 From early spring 1963, Jorge Bolet and Tex Compton are living in Fuenterrabia, northern Spain. 24 June. Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland. Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23. Scottish National O​rchestra, [later Sir] Alexander Gibson. JB’s first appearance in Scotland. 1964 ​Jorge Bolet and Tex Compton are still living in Fuenterrabia, northern Spain. JB performs a lot more abroad than in the USA this year. August. Following reported attacks on U.S. destroyers, the U.S. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, officially pulling the U.S. into open military conflict in Vietnam.. 7-11 April. Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Vienna (Austria). Liszt 1. Vienna Symphony (Wiener Symphoniker) under Paul Klecki. Only his second appearance in the Austrian capital (since 1935). 12 September - 8 October. JB tours New Zealand, with recitals and concertos: Auckland, Hamilton, Gisborne, Wellington, Timaru, Christchurch, Wanganui, Nelson, Palmerston North, Christchurch and Dunedin. October and November. JB makes a tour of South Africa (in their summer) and Windhoek, South-West Africa (now Namibia). 1965 8 March 1965, 3,500 U.S. Marines were landed near Da Nang, South Vietnam. This marked the beginning of America's ground war. March-June. Australia tour 6 July. City Hall, Hong Kong recital. 1966 JB seems hardly at all to have performed in the U.S.A. this year. 1966 Jorge seems hardly at all to have performed in the USA this year. c.13 January. Helsinki, Finland? Rachmaninoff 3 with Paavo Beglund. Also May 1966; August & December 1968? December 1966: Haus des Rundfunks (Saal 3), West Berlin, West Germany (SFB Studio Radio Broadcast ). Also in 1965 1967 January. Major USA tour with Detroit Symphony Orchestra/ Sixten Ehrling 16 April. Recital in [the new] Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. JB seems not to have been back in London until the 1970s. 1968 January. The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. It was launched on 30 January, by forces of the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) against the forces of the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), the United States Armed Forces and their allies. ​ ​ September. Jorge now takes up a teaching post at University of Indiana, at Bloomington. Divides his time between there at Fuenterrabia, Spain. 1970 According to the newspaper notice in March 1970, Jorge is still living in Spain (presumably at least this is his main residence, while at Bloomington, Indiana). 3 October. Hunter College, NYC. Benefit concert for International Piano Library (which had been vandalised and robbed). A big break for JB. 1971 On 18 February, Jorge arrived in Fuenterrabia, northern Spain, where he and Tex still rent a home. 19 May. Clowes Hall, Butler University, Indianapolis. US premiere of Sgambati’s Concerto in G minor (as part of the Romantic Festival IV). Louisville Orchestra and Jorge Mester 1972 This new season 1972-73 marked JB's 35th on the concert platform (he would be 59 years old in November) ​March. JB records the Sgambati Concerto in G minor in Nuremberg - Colosseum Musikstudios with Ainslee Cox and the Nürnberg Symphoniker. June. JB signs a long-term contract with RCA (which would not last...). 'Bolet will make his first RCA discs in August. An album "Franz Liszt greatest hits of the 1850s" released last month by the company was made up of recordings originally cut for a Spanish company and later bought by RCA. 1973 May/June. South Africa tour (Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. July. JB makes a recording in RCA Studio A, New York City, of "Great Rachmaninoff Transcriptions". October. Concerto appearances in Bournemouth, Bristol, Exeter in England 1974 23 January. Victoria Hall, Geneva (Switzerland) seems to be the date of Jorge's first appearance in this Alpine land. 25 February (aged 59). Carnegie Hall, New York City. A recital that would acquire legendary status, not least because it was recorded by RCA. "The power source that heated up a close-to-capacity audience in Carnegie Hall on a cold and snowy night was Jorge Bolet.” 1975 JB’s days as an exclusive RCA Victor artist ended when his contract there was abruptly terminated in 1975, as Thomas Z. Shepard became director of classics at RCA and replaced Bolet with Belgian-born, American pianist Tedd Joselson. September. Brazil and Argentina (Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires). 1976 This year, JB resurrects the Romantic Piano Concerto by Joseph Marx. (*More detail needed) January./ February. South Africa (3rd visit): concerts in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Windhoek (Namibia since March 1990), Pietermaritzburg, Durban, Salisbury (Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe). May. Tokyo, Japan. 14 May. Bunka Kaikan Hall (Ueno Koen, Tokyo), recital 19/20, 21/22 May. NHK Hall, Shibuya Tokyo Brahms, Piano Concerto No.2 in B flat op.83 Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor op.37 Wolfgang Sawallisch and the NHK Symphony Orchestra 1977 It is usually said that Bolet finally made a return to Britain in 1977 for regular concerts, but he had visited periodically in the early 1970s. *See: March, October 1973, October, December 1974, October 1975. 17 February 1977 (aged 62). Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. JB meets Peter Wadland who would enable him - finally - to get a lasting recording contract (with Decca). July. Mexico July/August/September. Australia. JB’s 8 August recital in Sydney Opera House would have been rather special as it was the first time he had seen the famous 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.' September. He takes up his post as Head of the Piano Department at the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia.. This required around 30 days of teaching a year. 2 October. Recital: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London​ 3 & 4 October 1977 (aged 62). Kingsway Hall, London. Recording a selection of Chopin/Godowsky Études and Waltzes for Decca/L'Oiseau-lyre. 1978 July. South America (Brazil - incl. Campos do Jordão-, Argentina, Peru) and Mexico. 11/12 August. 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 16 August. Schloss Esterházy, Eisenstadt, Austria (Haydn Festival) Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Concerto No.5 in A flat major op. 113 7-9 December. Kingsway Hall, London. JB records Liszt for Decca/L'Oiseau-lyre. 1979 For some reason, the glamour of an international concert career has never surrounded this 'Cuban pianist. One has the feeling that he surely deserves more special treatment than he has sometimes received.' [Vianne Webb, Daily Press Newport News (25 January 1979)] June/July. Argentina and Uruguay.

It is not my intention to write a biography of Jorge Bolet, but I thought I would have a go at one chapter on his early years (1914-1927), especially as the material is rather scattered on this website, and confusing, too. This has enabled me to make connections with things I know now about his later life when I see what I have written on the page. Comments, corrections and additions are most welcome. UPDATE! When I say the material is rather scattered and confusing, I mean exactly that. I spotted that I claimed Jorge's father died in 1935 - yet he was apparently alive and well in 1944, during an interview with Jorge about him, becoming an American citizen. I may have mistranslated the Spanish (I haven't seen the article again since 2009, and the "Antonio" might refer to Jorge's eldest brother, not his father, but anyway, beware.... Update - The Japan Years 1946, 1976, 1988:

Lipscomb University is a private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Photo at reception after Jorge Bolet's recital 20 November, 1961.

While looking Jorge's tour of Spain and Portugal in May 1962, I came across this: "Recently, the Murcian painter Ignacio López welcomed the American collectors Tex Compton and Jorge Bolet to his studio in Alcantarilla. Their purpose was to acquire some of his most recent works, several commissioned by the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Mr Robert McNamara, and to simultaneously arrange an exhibition of the artist's work in California." Linea (Murcia, Spain), 23 May 1962 Ignacio López Gómez, known by the artist signature NACHO (born 1936), was a Spanish painter recognised for his symbolic, figurative oil paintings. His distinctive works often feature bright colour palettes, such as his notable painting Buho colorista [Owl] (1980–1990), and narrative subjects like La chica del tocado rubio. ​ Jorge was then to go to London. 29 May 1962 (aged 47) Royal Festival Hall, London Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 57, Appassionata, Liszt’s B minor sonata and Chopin’s Third Sonata (His London solo début was on 18 December 1955, also in the Festival Hall.)

Cidade de Santos (São Paulo), 21 June 1981 An interview with pianist João Carlos Martins Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 28 by the Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera. The work was commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation and was completed in 1961. It was first performed by the pianist João Carlos Martins and the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Howard Mitchell in Washington, D.C., on April 22, 1961. "Foi em 60, quando a esposa do professor Kliass - o grande mestre de João Carlos - me levou à casa de Alberto Ginastera, em Buenos Aires. E aconteceu que o pianista cubano Jorge Bolet foi obrigado a cancelar a estréia mundial de um concerto para piano de Ginastera em Washington. Ai ele me disse: "Em um mês você aprende o meu concerto e toca de cor?" Claro, respondi. E assim fiz minha estréia nos Estados Unidos." "It was in 1960, when the wife of Professor Kliass – João Carlos’s great mentor – took me to Alberto Ginastera’s house in Buenos Aires. It so happened that the Cuban pianist Jorge Bolet had been forced to cancel the world premiere of a piano concerto by Ginastera in Washington. So he said to me: ‘Can you learn my concerto and play it from memory in a month?’ ‘Of course,’ I replied. And that’s how I made my debut in the United States.”

2 February 1978 "It was in the second half of the seventies that I asked Jorge to give a recital in my home town Bilthoven [a village in the Dutch province of Utrecht], part of the municipality De Bilt (Netherlands). Jorge agreed and the concert was arranged by the cultural department of the Town Hall. "The concert was part of a tour, including Amsterdam, of Jorge playing the new Bechstein EN. So the tour was joined by Ulrich Adam, artist representative for Bechstein. (Later Mr Adam moved to Steinway where he did a great job for the cooperation between Steinway and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.) "The recital was great and all of us, including Tex, had great fun. Later I was told that the local record shop Radio Sound sold hundreds of copies of Jorge's Ensayo recording of Liszt's transcriptions, even years after the recital. (The RCA Carnegie Hall recital of 1974 was not available in Holland). "If I am not mistaken some encores of this recital can be found on Marston CDs." Mattheus Smits [The recital took place in the hall of the R.I.V., Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Avenue. This was the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (Dutch: Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu). Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek (Delft, 1632 – 1723) was a Dutch microbiologist and microscopist in the Golden Age of Dutch art, science and technology. A largely self-taught man in science, he is commonly known as "the Father of Microbiology".] Marston CDs Vol. 1: Waltz No. 6 in D-flat, op. 64, no. 1, “Minute” [Waltz No. 14 in E minor, op. posth. This is marked with the location "De Bilt 1978" in the CD booklet, but Mattheus informs me it was not played at this recital.] De Bilt, The Netherlands; 1978

Diário do Pará, the largest newspaper in the northern region of Brazil, based in Belém, Pará. Its Sunday edition of 24 November 1985 carried a review of Liszt volume 5 (Années de Pèlerinage: Suisse S.160) for Decca. Quando certa vez perguntei a Hélio Gaspar, o excelente pianista paraense, qual o pianista da atualidade que lhe causava mais admiração, ele respondeu sem pestanejar: o cu- bano Jorge Bolet. E arrematou: gostaria de tocar como ele. Quem sou eu para contradizer o Helinho... ? 'When I once asked Hélio Gaspar, the excellent pianist from Pará, which contemporary pianist he admired most, he answered without hesitation: the Cuban Jorge Bolet. And he concluded: I would like to play like him. 'Who am I to contradict Helinho...?' (JOSÉ OTÁVIO FIGUEIREDO)

Thomas Sauer, a professional musician who is also on the music faculty of Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, New York) and of the Mannes School of Music (NYC), has generously offered some memories of his time with JB at Curtis. Thomas Sauer's personal website link The first thing to note is that I arrived at Curtis at age 16 with a limited repertoire, having played the piano for seven years. In other words, very green. In no way was I deserving of a place in Mr. Bolet's studio. I unquestionably needed a different sort of guidance than he was inclined to provide. All the same, I did my best to internalize his sound and approach to the instrument, storing information for later in my development, so to speak. In my first couple of years (1982-84), he demonstrated quite often, sometimes passages from the work I had brought to the lesson, other times playing an altogether different work. Needless to say, I had never heard playing like that at close range, nor have I heard it much during the past forty years (he resigned his position in 1986, at the end of what was my fourth year at Curtis). His primary concern with me was balancing the pianistic texture. I am quite sure that I frustrated him to no end in this respect, as I simply did not possess the pianistic tools to voice textures in the manner that he desired (though I understood clearly what he was after). His overarching concern with repertoire was that we study an enormous amount of it. He took a dim view of the competition scene in which a young pianist learned a couple of recital programs and concerti, then entered competition after competition with the same repertoire. He typically heard pieces only once in lessons, expecting us to move on to different repertoire for each cycle of lessons. This was very challenging for most of us, and resulted in a couple of students being asked to leave the studio during my time there. I can say, however, that he had a tremendous ear and memory, and was able to play pieces that he hadn't touched for decades after hearing them once or twice. Undoubtedly there are other pianists capable of this, but I have not met them. He often spoke of pianists from the past, Rachmaninov, Hofmann and Moiseiwitsch above all. He was not a lover of the Urtext tradition, which of course represented a significant departure from the Curtis of his predecessor, Rudolf Serkin. He spoke of the freedom and imagination of the older tradition, and encouraged us to encounter it via recordings and emulate it. He rarely discussed his touring with me. He did make clear that he had had many lean years, and seemed to enjoy the recognition that came to him post-1975, but I know next to nothing about any one concert. Re contacts in South America, I know that he was acquainted with Alberto Ginastera. One spring he encouraged my classmate Makoto Ueno and me to learn his first concerto over that summer. I found the prospect utterly overwhelming at that time, and failed to act (which was of course a mistake). He was quite formal with his students, learning what by today's standards would be a minimal amount about each individual, and in turn divulging little of his own personal life. He was never harsh with me, only rarely losing his patience (despite the abundant opportunities my playing offered him to do so). My sense is that he was a private person, dignified in bearing, and probably difficult to get to know. But again, we were students, and he observed boundaries. I would not be at all surprised to learn that he was a warm and loyal friend to many.

Jorge Bolet's agent at Columbia Artists from the 1960s onwards Nelly Walters died in October 2001 aged 100, after 70 years in the business; flowers and cards arrived in from celebrities across the world for her birthday in January. She was an integral part of the history of CAMI, retiring only in 1997. Born in Germany, she grew up in Dresden; in Berlin she worked for the Otto Mertens agency - his son André would later become her boss at CAMI in New York. She had begun already to develop her own network of clients in Europe and South America. Leading American managers came to Europe to engage clients from her. The political upheaval beginning in 1930, change to life. The Mertens agency was closed after Otto died of a heart attack. By 1933, Nelly and her mother had to leave Germany for their safety because they were Jewish. Nelly went to Prague where her friend, famed conductor, George Szell was music director of the Opera. She was soon in danger again as the Nazi tide swept towards Czechoslovakia. So she joined her mother, who had gone to her family in Vienna and continued her work there until Hitler invaded Austria in March 1938. Mother and daughter managed to get to Paris where she met Francis Poulenc and Virgil Thomson. She attended the Paris Opéra whenever she could, and even arrange the Scandinavian tour for the production of Debussy's Pelléas et Melisande. When the Germans marched into Paris in June 1940, she and her mother escaped and went into hiding in Marseille; picked up by soldiers, Nelly was thrown into a French concentration camp in the Pyrenees. Eventually, after the war mother and daughter arrived in New York on June 11, 1946, and she started at Columbia artist a few days later. Arthur Johnson, founder of the conglomerate, was president and Nelly became invaluable. André Martens came to CAMI to head a division and Nelly became his right-hand woman. After his death in 1963, she was promoted to a vice-presidency. Two snippets from the website: 4/5 December 1961 South Campus Auditorium, Waukesha, Wisconsin Rachmaninoff 3 [+ Samuel Barber's Die Natale, Debussy La Mer etc.] Waukesha Symphony Orchestra/Milton Weber Tex Compton seems to have written a letter to Nelly Walters, TLS (=typed signed letter) about reviews of this concert. (*I don't know why) There is among the Bolet papers at IPAM a letter from the United Nations, dated 27 July 1967 regarding the invitation from U Thant, the Burmese diplomat and the third secretary-general of the UN from 1961 to 1971 (the first non-Scandinavian to hold the position). During his second term (2 December, 1966), Thant was well known for publicly criticising American conduct in the Vietnam War. Dear Miss Walters (Vice President of Columbia Artists Management), We understand that Mr Bolet will travel from Midland, Texas on 21 October to NYC and will wish after the concert to fly to Edmonton, Alberta. We shall take responsibility for these travel costs and also for Mr Bolet's living expenses during his two days or so in NYC. George Moushon.

Brazilian/American pianist Francisco Rennó, a student of Bolet at Bloomington, Indiana, wrote to me c.10 years ago, and I've always enjoyed his letter. ‘I first met Jorge Bolet in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1974 at the Teresa Carreño International Piano Competition, where I was one of the competitors and he served as chairman of the jury. Bolet was one of two people who made it possible for me to leave behind the impoverished conditions of my native Brazil, come to the US to acquire a proper musical education and eventually become a citizen and settle here as a professional musician. As you can imagine, my gratitude and admiration for the man go beyond words. During the two years that I was in his class in Bloomington I had the privilege of having many hours of one-on-one conversations with him, not only in the studio but also in several dinner parties at his place and mine. He and his manager Tex were delightful hosts (and guests), liked to eat well and they both loved my wife's cooking. After a few glasses of wine and some paella the stories and jokes would start to flow, he would relax and come out of his usually very stern public persona, and we would go late into the night laughing, listening to music, and having the best of times. Hard to believe that was almost forty years ago...' ‘My years in Bloomington were the best years of my life and Jorge Bolet played a big part in it.’ Francisco Rennó, company pianist for Miami City Ballet. YouTube video interview

This is an extensive and detailed account of Jorge Bolet during his three visits to Japan in the years 1946, 1976 and 1988 but it also examines the wider picture of his career at these times. Comments, corrections and additions are most welcome. Use the contact box (unless you already have my email).