Delighted confirm Jorge Bolet DID play in Chile (I had thought he hadn’t) June, 1983 in Chile, with Juan Pablo Izquierdo (born Santiago de Chile, 1935) and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago in the capital's Teatro Municipal.  Again in 1984 (date to be confirmed).  Full details added to the relevant page.

A gem of a review, but from Bern not Lucerne (as advertised)

Well this is a find indeed - how have I missed this! I heard this on the radio in March 1984 (I'd only discovered Jorge Bolet the year before). I taped the programme with very poor FM reception, but could still hear the magic of Bolet's playing at 11m30s. How marvellous to hear it again in excellent sound. 17 November 1983, Elmwood Hall, Queen's University, Belfast, as part of the 21st Arts Festival: Brahms, Intermezzi Op.117 & Sonata No 3 in F minor, Op 5 (the programme also included Rachmaninoff, Variations on a theme by Chopin, Op 22; Liszt Venezia e Napoli: Gondoliera; Tarantella  G 162).  The recital was recorded and broadcast on Wednesday 28th March 1984 on BBC Radio 3. Bolet had last appeared at the Festival in 1979 (Friday, 9 November).  'Rathcol' in the Belfast Telegraph praised 'the un-hackneyed nature of the programme' which was played to an enthusiastic capacity audience on a splendid Bechstein sent over from London. He produced 'formidable climaxes without loss of quality... [in the Rachmaninoff/Chopin] the keyboard command was simply breathtaking'.  The Bechstein gave the top notes a pearly roundness (against the more usual diamond-like brilliance of a Steinway).  'Even the tinsel decorations of Venezia e Napoli took on a new significance.'

Finally! After hearing about Jorge's home in Spain during 1960s-1980s, I get an address. I've been looking for this since 1983 when JB listed it in an Directory of International Musicians as simply Apartado 5. A chance find among YouTube comments led me to Carlos Johansson. Carlos Johansson has said that 'Jorge Bolet lived in our house in Fuenterrabia, Spain (the Basque country) for many years.  This was the Villa Egoki, which my mother rented to him and his partner during the years 1963-1967.  They paid 10,000 pesetas a month. Quite a lot at that time.  'Unfortunately I never had the privilege of meeting him - as I was too little.  They had two caretakers who also lived there. They served the food in the dining room wearing tuxedos and white gloves!  Jorge B. used to give a big Christmas party. He invited a lot of people. My mother would go there, sometimes with my older brother Erik and my sister Blanca. The harpist Nicanor Zabaleta was invited, and my sister chatted with him for a long time that afternoon. On one occasion - my brother Erik says - two imposters who had no business being there crashed the party. Jorge kicked them out in a terrible mood! 'He fixed up the villa very nicely and luxuriously. White carpeting everywhere and the staircase, very pretty and well varnished by my mother, was painted black! (Something that surprised my mother a lot.) Many rooms on the lower floor were small lounges instead of bedrooms and in the large lounge - with excellent views of the Bay of Biscay and the French coast - he installed his wonderful grand piano. 'Jorge and Tex left the villa in 1967 because there was a small fire in the house, and the smoke damaged the house somewhat. They subsequently moved to a recently built apartment in Fuenterrabía (Apartado 5) in the Sokoa neighbourhood. They wanted to be in Fuenterrabía because it was close to Biarritz airport.'  ​​ Mattheus Smits has added: 'Jorge and Tex had a Volkswagen station-car which was used for travelling. Staying there was extremely cheap in those days.  Jorge told me once: "In Spain are no criminals except one!" 'In those days, he played many concerts in Spain.  He even played Rachmaninoff 2 with a fantastic brass orchestra. Of course he also started, after almost twenty years of neglect, to make records in Spain for Ensayo. 'In a Dutch radio interview (1978) Jorge mentioned that he had a house in Spain where he had a Bechstein, but the weather could be as bad as in Holland!' There were two Villas Egoki, but Carlos Johansson has said that the one Jorge rented was in calle Marisantzenea nº7 (constructed in 1940).  *Thanks are due also to archivist Miguel at Artxibo Historikoa/Archivo Histórico, Hondarribia for help with this information.

Monday 11 April, 1988, Bern Casino Hall, Bern, Switzerland.  'When you heard him play, this guest from overseas, you got the impression that something of old European musical culture had been preserved in him even more strongly than we are used to in our often hectic, sensation-hungry and originality-obsessed concert business.  Jorge Bolet is not a man of facade, not a poseur; he does not put on airs, he is neither nonchalantly superior nor brilliantly eccentric, nor arrogant or flattering towards the audience. He sits at the piano, concentrates for a moment and then never takes his eyes off the keys while playing; his movements avoid anything spectacular, are rational, calm, often striking, carefully controlled and considered. This behaviour does not show the listener what the performer is feeling; Passion, rapture and cheerfulness cannot be read from the facial expressions but can be heard in the tones. [...] . Finally, Jorge Bolet takes Franz Liszt's "Reminiscences de Norma" seriously, not as an effective bravura piece but as a kind of concentration of the drama, and in doing so saves what can still be saved from this time-bound work. One almost felt removed from time that evening. Perhaps Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Franck Liszt would have played their work in the same way. It was like music from another world, but not from a new one.'  Der Bund  (13.4.88)

What better way to end 2024 - at least in the musical world of Jorge Bolet - than by being reminded (via the words of Donald Manildi in the International Piano Quarterly, November 2024) - of his artistry: