Otomar Kvěch

Otomar Kvěch (born 25 May 1950) is a Czech music composer and teacher.

Biography

Kvěch was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. His father was a sound engineer with Czechoslovak Radio, and later held technical jobs in various industrial companies. Kvěch's mother was shop-assistant.[1]

In 1955 he had his first lessons in piano. He prepared for three years for his entry exam to the Prague Conservatory, and graduated after studying composition with Jan Zdeněk Bartoš and organ with Joseph Kuban. After 1969 he studied composition at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts with Jiří Pauer and one semester with Emil Hlobil. After graduation he worked as an accompanist at the Opera National Theatre.

In 1972 he married Miluška Wagnerová, a fellow-student from his organ class, and had daughters Eva (b. 1974) and Martina (b. 1977).[1] In 1976 he returned from a yearlong national service in the Army Art Ensemble, and took a job as music director in Czechoslovak Radio. In 1980 he took a position as secretary of the Composers Union which allowed him better opportunities for composition.[2]

In 1990 political and social changes in his country forced Kvěch to return to a job at Czechoslovak Radio as programme manager and music editor. At the same time he began teaching music theory and composition at Prague Conservatory. In 2000 Kvěch's wife died, and three years later he married Dr. Jana Smékalová, long-time programme manager of Supraphon, and since 2000 employed at the Jewish Museum in Prague.[2]

As a composer, Kvěch adopted a number of technical elements (concepts of "colour") from "Musica Nova", and transplanted these into the "Classical" approach. Currently Kvěch is Head of the Department of Composition at the National Conservatory in Prague and teaches music analysis at the Academy of Music. He also works as a music editor at the Czech radio station Vltava.[1]

Works

Orchestral
Concertante
Chamber music
Keyboard
Radio operas for children
Vocal
Choral

References

External links