Josef Suk (8 August 1929 – 6 July 2011[1]) was a Czech violinist, violist, chamber musician and conductor, the grandson of Josef Suk, the composer and violinist, and great-grandson of Antonín Dvořák. In his home country he carried the title of National Artist.
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Suk's talent was spotted at an early age by Jaroslav Kocián, who tutored him until his death in 1950. Suk first appeared on concert platforms at the age of eleven. His Prague debut in 1954 rapidly led to an international career. Before long he was recognized as the heir to the best tradition of the Czech violin school and his 1959 tour with the Czech Philharmonic covered three continents and was one of the greatest expressions of Czech music the world had until then ever heard. He also studied at the Prague Conservatory with Kocián and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
Suk had a distinguished solo career. His career as a concert violinist started in 1954, and he gave concerts all over the world at prestigious music festivals. He reached his greatest success in the United States and Canada. He also formed the Suk Chamber Orchestra in 1974.
Suk showed an extraordinary affinity for chamber music. This yielded extraordinary fruits, especially through his partnerships with pianist Jan Panenka and the harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková - and from 1973 he was a frequent additional player with the Smetana Quartet, playing second viola. Suk was also for some years the first violin of the Prague Quartet. He founded the Suk Trio (named after his grandfather) in 1951 with Jan Panenka and cellist Josef Chuchro
He became a distinguished violist, having recorded Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra as violist with Iona Brown and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
Josef Suk had a long and distinguished career in the recording studio, winning the Grand Prix du Disque six times: including in 1960 for recordings of the Leoš Janáček and Claude Debussy violin sonatas, and in 1968 for the Alban Berg violin concerto. He also won the Wiener Floetenuhr Prize and the Edison Prize.
He was a sponsor, with Vladimir Ashkenazy, of Toccata Classics for whom he recorded "Songs my great-grandfather taught me".
He was esteemed for his refined tone, deep sense of lyricism (expressed unforgettably for example in his Martinů interpretations) and commitment to the music he played.
Suk played on rare instruments built by Antonio Stradivari (1729), Giuseppe Guarneri "del Gesu" (1744) and Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (1758).
Josef Suk died on 6 July 2011, aged 81, after a long illness. He had been suffering from prostate cancer as well.[2]