IN February, 1950, Jose Iturbi conducted the internationally famous Valencia orchestra at the Victoria Hall, Knowsley Street.
Bolton was one of 14 points of call in the musicians' first British tour.
Jose was the son of a humble Valencian gasworks employee and piano-tuner. He occupied the chair formerly held by Liszt at the Geneva Conservatoire and lived in Paris, Barcelona and the USA, where he gained world-wide fame with the film Thousands Cheer. Later he went back to Valencia and re-formed the town's orchestra. At the end of the Bolton concert, enthusiasts waited patiently to have their programmes autographed.
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