Alberto Bolet
Alberto J. Bolet was a Cuban-American violinist and conductor, born in Havana in 1905. He was the brother of pianist Jorge Bolet. He studied at several music schools in Cuba, where Casimiro Zertucha was his most important teacher. In 1922, he left home for Europe rather than pursue the law studies his father wanted him to undertake. He studied with Enrique Fernández Arbós at the Madrid Conservatory and with Firmin Touche at the Paris Conservatory.
In the mid-1920s, Bolet toured Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, and Hungary as a violinist. In 1926, he toured the United States as part of a trio. He led a chamber orchestra in San Francisco in 1932 and later worked in Hollywood at the invitation of Ernesto Lecuona. After returning to Cuba in 1936, he served as music director of radio station CMZ from 1937 to 1943, conducting more than 300 concerts on air. At the same time, he played in the Havana Trio with pianist Alberto Falcon and cellist Alberto Roldan.
From 1943, Bolet worked for a time as assistant to Erich Kleiber at the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra, developing his conducting under Kleiber's direction. From 1948 to 1951, he conducted the Anna-Maria Spanish Ballet on tours across Latin America. In 1951, he became principal conductor of the Havana Philharmonic. During his tenure, the orchestra performed with soloists including Jascha Heifetz, Victoria de los Angeles, Andrés Segovia, Alicia de Larrocha, and Nicanor Zabaleta. Bolet also brought works by Igor Stravinsky, Alberto Ginastera, and Heitor Villa-Lobos into the orchestra's repertoire.
Bolet later spent some time in the United Kingdom. From 1963 to 1968, he was principal conductor of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, where he supported young musicians including Montserrat Caballé and Salvatore Accardo. He subsequently worked mainly in the United States, briefly as associate conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and then leading several small semi-professional orchestras in California. He remained active in supporting the musical life of the Cuban diaspora in the United States until the final years of his life. He died in Teaneck, New Jersey, in 1999.