Otomar Kvěch

As a composer, Kvěch adopted a number of technical elements (concepts of "colour") from "Musica Nova", and transplanted these into the "Classical" approach. At the time of his death Kvěch was Head of the Department of Composition at the National Conservatory in Prague and taught music analysis at the Academy of Music. He also worked as a music editor at the Czech radio station Vltava. He died in Prague on 16 March 2018.

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 Jana Smékalová, long-time programme manager of Supraphon, and from 2000 to 2018 was employed at the Jewish Museum in Prague.

In 1972 he married Miluška Wagnerová, a fellow-student from his organ class, and had daughters Eva (b. 1974) and Martina (b. 1977). 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.

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.

Otomar Kvěch (25 May 1950 – 16 March 2018) was a Czech music composer and teacher.