Josef Suk
Josef Suk was a Czech violinist and violist. He was born in Prague on August 8, 1929, and was the grandson of composer Josef Suk and great-grandson of Antonín Dvořák.
He studied at the Prague Conservatory and then the Prague Academy of Music, where he was a student of Jaroslav Kocian. Suk was best known as the founder and a longstanding member of the Suk Piano Trio, named after his grandfather, which performed from 1951 to 1990. He also performed with the Prague Quartet and appeared widely as a soloist.
He received the Grand Prix du Disque several times: in 1960 for recordings of violin sonatas by Leoš Janáček and Claude Debussy, in 1968 for Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto, and in 1978 for Bohuslav Martinů’s violin concertos. From 1973, he also performed as a violist. He recorded the viola part in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Iona Brown and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
In 1974, Suk founded the Suk Chamber Orchestra, also named after his grandfather. He performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in Luchino Visconti’s film Conversation Piece. Suk died in Prague on July 7, 2011.