1914 Born Havana, Cuba on 15 November to Antonio Bolet Valdés and Adelina Tremoleda de la Paz. He was the fifth of six children. 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. 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 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 1935-1936 Concerts in Spain (Pamplona, Gijón, Oviedo, Madrid etc.) May. Returns to the USA. Resides (?) with the family of Reverend Donald Barnhouse in Philadelphia. September. Havana, Cuba 9 December. First known recordings of JB (radio broadcast from the Curtis Institute) 1936-39 During the years 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 and the 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 c.1946 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 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 was seconded to the Cuban Embassy in Washington as Assistant Military Attaché . 16 December. Constitution Hall, Washington DC. Impromptu recital, 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 fills 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 once said), 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.

A very incomplete list. Feel free to add to it, using the Contact page. Jacobs School of Music, Bloomington, Indiana Francisco Rennó (Brazil) Gary Thor Wedow Glenn Winters (1970-76) Ira (Philip) Levin (1976) Curtis Institute, Philadelphia Meng-Chieh Liu (Kaohsiung, Taiwan) Ira (Philip) Levin (1977- ) Ju Hee Suh (Seoul, South Korea) Makoto Ueno (Japan) see here Thomas Sauer (USA) see here Anthony Padilla Graydon Goldsby Wonmi Kim (South Korea) Gustavo Rivero Weber (Mexico) Károly Mocsári (Hungary) 1984-86 Ira Levin (b. Chicago, 1958). At Indiana University in 1976, he began to study with Jorge Bolet; he then went on to Curtis, and after graduation became teaching assistant to Mr. Bolet. Studied with JB (privately) Teresa Escandon Henry Lowinger Panayis Lyras (Panaghis Lykiardopoulos [1953-2025], Athens, Greece) A selection of students from masterclasses Hélène Grimaud Barry Douglas (Northern Ireland, UK) José Feghali (Brazil, 1961- 2014) Kathryn Stott (UK) Philip Smith (UK) Marc-Antonio Barone (USA) Wolfgang Manz (Germany)

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.”

This list does not include Cuba. See also 1936-58 1974 In late 1974, Jorge was one of the judges on the Concurso Latinoamericano de Piano Teresa Carreño in Caracas, Venezuela. He made a number of concert appearances in Caracas. 1975 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 1977 15, 16 January 1977 Jorge's date book notes rehearsals ("ensayos") in Caracas, Venezuela 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. There was a tour of Central (and possibly South) America in July 1977. On Saturday 2 July, Bolet 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; Mexico City), 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? November 1977 (?): Teatro Tapia, San Juan, PR 1978 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 Mozart/LIszt Reminiscences , f Don Juan (as part of the Winter Festival) 10/12 July 1978 Casa de Manchete/ Teatro Cultura Artistica, São Paulo, Brazil 2 recitals On Thursday 13 July, Jorge 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. Jorge told Lisa Battle of The Columbus Ledger (6 March) that an impresario wanted to display his photography in concert halls during the Mexican tour. ​​ On Monday 31 July he flew at 10:30am from Mexico City to JFK Alternatively, another date books lists: 6 July 1978 Sala Cecilia Meireles, Largo do Lapa, Rio de Janeiro Funerailles and the 12 Transcendental Etudes 8 July 1978 São Paulo, Barazil 9 July 1978 Flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina 10 July 1978 Lima, Peru or Buenos Aires 11 July 1978 Leave for Mexico 12 July 1978 Tepotzotlán 30 Jul 1978 arrive back in U.S. 12 November 1978 Mexico City, Mexico 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, so no concert. 1979 In June/July 1979, Jorge was in Argentina and Uruguay. He flew on 18 June to Buenos Aires. His date book mentions repertoire (see below but also: Chopin, Barcarolle, Fantasy in F minor Op.49, Sonata No.3, Ballades, Rachmaninoff's third concerto and Weber's Konzertstück) ​10 July 1979 Teatro Solís, Montevideo, Uruguay 30th anniversary of SODRE (Servicio Oficial de Difusión, Representaciones y Espectáculos; Official Service for Broadcasting, Performances and Entertainment) in con junction with the Embassy of the USA Liszt's Sonata and Transcendental Études 7, 6, 12, 9 and 8; Funerailles. (JB's first appearance in the country) 21 July 1979 Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, Argentina (JB’s only appearance in this fabled venue) Bach/Busoni Ciaccona, Liszt's Sonata and his Transcendental Études 7, 6, 12, 9 and 8. 1980 A newspaper review dated 31 May 1980 discusses a concerto with Armando Krieger and the Orquesta Sinfónica del Sodre (in Montevideo, Uruguay). It featured Uruguayan composer León Biriotti's Symphony No. 3, "in memoriam Lauro Ayestarán" and Jorge playing Rachmaninoff 3. See here for mixed review. 26 May 1980 National Theatre, Panamá City, Panamá Recital 12 June 1980 Teatro Nacional, San José, Costa Rica Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op.58 Conductor Agustín Cullell 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 1981 3 May 1981 (Sunday, 12 noon) Sala Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico City Chopin, Barcarolle, Fantasy in F minor Op.49, Schumann, Carnaval, Liszt Sonetti del Petrarca 104 & 123, Dante Sonata 5 May 1981 Sala Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico City Brahms, Concerto No 2 in B flat Op.83 (also Moncayo, Tierra de temporal and Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 4) Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM/ Armando Zayas 15 October 1981 [originally 18th?] Teatro Degollado, Guadalajara (Jalisco), Mexico Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto no. 2 in C minor Op. 18 Conductor: Hugo Jan Huss 20 November 1981 Teatro Nacional Eduardo Brito, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schubert & Liszt In El Caribe (12.11.1981), Lamela Geler stated that Jorge visited Santo Domingo in the early 1950s and played in the Teatro Olimpia, under the auspices of Sociedad Pro Arte. Now he gives a second recital in Santo Domingo. 1982 Jorge's itinerary states that 1-15 June 1982 had been reserved for Mexico. His date book notes a flight from New York to Mexico City on 31 May 1982. 4 & 6 June, 1982, [6th Sunday at 12 noon] 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) Saturday, 5 June, in the Palacio de la Antigua Escuela de Medecina: Mendelssohn, Fantasie in F sharp minor, Op.28 "Scottish" Schumann, Fantasy in C major Op.17 Schubert/Liszt, 5 Lieder (Auf dem Wasser au singen, Der Müller under der Bach, Der Lindenbaum, Aufenthalt, Erlkönig) Liszt, Mephisto Waltz 9 June 1982 Auditorio, Colegio Santa Ursula, Lima Mendessohn, Fantasy in F minor Op.28 "Scottish" Schumann, Fantasy in C major Op.17 Schubert/Liszt, 5 Lieder (Auf dem Wasser au singen, Der Müller under der Bach, Der Lindenbaum, Aufenthalt, Erlkönig) Liszt, Mephisto Waltz Jorge's only recital that year in Lima, Peru, a recital arranged in association with Baldwin Pianos (Los Zorzalas 140, San Isidro, Lima) "It has been a long time since we have heard in Lima a pianist of Bolet's stature." El Comercio 13.6.1982 c.10/11 June 1982 Santiago, Chile? 12 June 1982 Teatro Solís, Montevideo, Uruguay Liszt, Concerto No. 2 in A major & the Hungarian Fantasia Brazilian conductor Isaac Karabtchewsky & the SODRE Symphony Orchestra, the national orchestra 15 June 1982 São Paulo, Brazil *On 16th he flew from Brazil to New York. 13 November 1982 Sala René Marqués of the Centro de Bellas Artes, San Juan (Puerto Rico) Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto no. 2 in C minor Op. 18 Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico/ John Barnett ​ Cristobal Diaz writing in El Mundo 7.11.82 recalls an unforgettable night at the Teatro Tapia in November 1977, which seems to be when he last heard Bolet in San Juan, or it may be the last time JB performed in the city. 1983 14 /16 June 1983 Teatro Municipal, Santiago de Chile, Chile Rachmaninoff, Concerto No. 3 in D minor Op.30 Juan Pablo Izquierdo and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago ​ There's some confusion as the season schedule lists Tuesday and Thursday 14/16 June 1983 as conducted by Franz Paul Decker; the Rachmaninoff is there but it's framed by Hindemith's Mathis der Maler symphony and Richard Strauss's Rosenkavalier Waltzes. Indisposition? 23 July 1983 (Saturday) Arequipa, Peru Schumann, Fantasiestücke Brahms, Handel variations Liszt, Petrarch Sonnets & Hungarian Rhapsody No.12 *Birthplace of Peruvian author and Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa (1936-2025) 25 July 1983 Auditorio Santa Úrsula, Lima, Peru C. Franck, Symphonic Variations Rachmaninoff, Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op.18 Orquesta Sinfónica de la Escuela de Música/ Peruvian conductor Armando Sánchez Málaga Brazil (July 1983) The organisers of the II Gramado International Festival, which will begin on the 1st of next month, are encountering the same difficulty faced last year: a lack of resources. Of the Cr$ 200 million requested from the Ministry of Education, for example, only Cr$ 15 million were released. Even so, maestro Eleazar de Carvalho, its creator, is enthusiastic about the event, for which more than 500 music students have already registered, and which will feature 13 foreign musicians and another 12 Brazilians, to the point of stating that in 1985 he will create another festival, in the same format, in Fortaleza. Eleazar de Carvalho, conductor of the Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra, organizer of the festival, invited important names such as the Cuban Jorge Bolet, one of the best pianists in the world... From Brazil itself, for example, Arnaldo Cohen, Magdalena Tagliaferro, Temo Jacomi and Marcos Barbero will be present. With the exception of Bolet, the invited musicians will also act as professors of the chamber music, instrumental music, percussion instruments and applied theoretical subjects seminars. The festival is similar to the Berkshire Musical Center in Tanglewood, Massachusetts, USA, where Eleazar studied. Ultima Hora (Rio de Janeiro, 27 June 1983) 29 July 1983 Cine-Teatro Embaixador, Gramado (Rio Grande do Sul), Brazil Schumann, Fantasiestücke Brahms, Handel variations Liszt, Petrarch Sonnets & Hungarian Rhapsody No.12 30 July 1983 Gramado (Rio Grande do Sul), Brazil Schubert's Trout ["Die Forelle"] Quintet in A major D.667, with Telmo Jaconi, Miguel Mutuberria, Dennis Parker and Milton Masciadri. 31 July 1983 Gramado (Rio Grande do Sul), Brazil Brahms 2 Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre, presumably under Eleazar de Carvalho 3 August 1983 Lima, Peru Schumann, Fantasiestücke Brahms, Handel variations Liszt, Petrarch Sonnets & Hungarian Rhapsody No.12 1984 Claudio Arrau returns to Chile, May 1984 Arrau made a 15-day tour of his homeland Chile, arriving on Thursday 10 May, after a 17-year absence. On Friday 11 May, there were rehearsals with conductor Juan Pablo Izquierdo and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago at the Teatro Municipal, whilst anti-government street protesters clashed with police forces resulting in one 18-year-old dead and 170 arrests. In June 1984 there was a tour (?) of South America; Jorge Bolet flew from San Francisco to Miami on 1 June and then on LAN Chile LA141 to Santiago. 5 June 1984 Teatro Municipal, Santiago, Chile Liszt 1 & 2 [?] Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago/ Simón Blech (1924-1997, Polish-Argentinian) 11 June 1984 Teatro Cultura Artística, São Paulo (rua Nestor Pestana 196), Brazil Rachmaninoff, Concerto No. 2 in C minor Op.18 Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado/ Eleazar de Carvalho 12 June 1984 Teatro, Casa da OSPA, Avenida Borges de Medeiros 1501, Praia de Belas, Porto Alegre, Brazil Rachmaninoff 2 and Paganini Variations Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado/ Eleazar de Carvalho 19 June 1984 Lima, Peru

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)

On 8 June 1989, JB gave his last public recital (in Berlin, Germany) Mattheus Smits has sent me a photo of the last page of the schedule with a note: "As you can see on this itinerary the last performance of Jorge with an orchestra was Rachmaninoff's third concerto in Herford and Paderborn. The conductor was Alun Francis. The performance was recorded and broadcasted by WDR. "I was not able to attend but my good friend Hans did. Jorge told him that he had just come from Canada where he recorded the Chopin concertos. That means that the recording dates on the recording (25 +26 May ) are not correct. It was funny to Jorge and Alun Francis when they found out that they had worked together before, and that both of them did not remember that indeed they did. If I am not mistaken, they performed Brahms 2. "When my friend Hans found out that the performance would be recorded (not digitally - which is rather strange, given the period) the recording team provided him with a copy immediately after the performance. After these two performances, Jorge made his way to Berlin for what was going to be his final public performance. "I have always felt happy to know that Jorge was able to finish his "orchestral" career with a piece most dear to him."

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