Autographed 4.75” x 7” Fayer photograph of the Austrian piano virtuoso with the Conciertos Iriberri stamp on the verso, 1948, or 1949.

 Gulda (1930-2000) was born in Vienna and studied with Felix Pazofsky prior to his enrollment at the Vienna Conservatory where he studied with Bruno Seidlhofer.  In 1946 he won the Geneva International Piano Concourse and his career began in earnest.  He embarked on a two year tour of Europe from 1947-1948, South Africa and South America in 1949.

Bernardo Iriberri (1882 - 19??) was a Spanish/Jewish concert promoter who arrived in Buenos Aires in 1906 initially as a concert pianist.  His Conciertos Iriberri was the most prestigious of all the concert managers in Buenos Aires and always had the top talent available for the audiences in Argentina. He spent a great deal of his time in New York City working with Sol Hurok and was given the rights to contract many of Hurok’s artists. Among the pianist tours he managed in South America included: Conchita Badia, Alexander Borovsky, Alfred Cortot, Rudolf Firkusny, Wilhelm Kempff, Moriz Rosenthal and Artur Rubinstein.

Iriberri was always on the prowl for the hottest talents and when he discovered Gulda, he signed him up as soon as possible.  He brought the 19 year old pianist to Buenos Aires at the end of December 1948 with an initial concert at the Teatro Astral as a benefit for the local Wagner Association. That recital led to a performance with a chamber orchestra of the Mozart 23rd piano concerto k 488.  The concert was met with varied reviews.  Iriberri decided to risk putting his new talent at the Teatro Colon, the first on New Years day 1949.  The audience was not as well attended as they had hoped, but the attendees at the end of the concert were described as delirious. So much so that he was carried out of the hall in a hero’s welcome.  Gulda played an additional concert at the Teatro Colon to a packed house.  A fourth concert was performed at the Teatro Gran Rex with the Symphony Orchquestra Sinfonica del Cuidad de Buenos Aires under Argentine conductor Ferrucio Calusio.  He performed concertos by Beethoven, Mozart and Prokofiev to the delight of the audience.

Gulda would perform three concerts in Buenos Aires in 1950 after his tour of North America, three more in 1952 and a Beethoven sonata cycle in 1954.  He would not appear there again until 1960.

An important early image of Gulda!

       Harmonie Autographs and Music, Inc.

Music Antiquarian and Appraiser

New York, New York

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