Kocian, Jaroslav

Jaroslav Kocian (1883 - 1950) was a Czech violin virtuoso, composer and teacher. Already in his childhood he showed extraordinary musical talent, when at the age of three his father began to teach him the violin and from the age of five he and his father had their first joint performances. In his later years he studied violin with Otakar Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory and also completed his musical education in the composition class of Antonín Dvořák. He wrote most of his brilliant compositions for violin and counted on them as encores in his concert performances.