Role

:

Conductor

Death

:

November 28, 2008

Genre

:

Vocal

 

Joza Karas was a Czech-American classical music artist who was born on January 22, 1909, in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He was born into a family of musicians, and his father was a well-known conductor and composer. Karas began his musical training at a young age, and he showed great promise as a violinist. He studied at the Prague Conservatory, where he was a student of the renowned violinist Otakar Ševčík. In 1939, Karas fled Czechoslovakia to escape the Nazi occupation and settled in the United States. He continued his musical career in the US, and he became a naturalized citizen in 1944. Karas quickly established himself as a prominent violinist, and he performed with many of the leading orchestras in the US, including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Karas was also a prolific recording artist, and he recorded many of the major works in the classical music repertoire. He was particularly known for his interpretations of the works of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. Karas was also a respected chamber musician, and he performed with many of the leading chamber ensembles of his time. One of the highlights of Karas's career was his performance of Bach's complete solo violin works at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, in 1950. This was the first time that the complete works had been performed in the US, and Karas's performance was widely acclaimed. He also performed the complete works in New York City in 1951, and these performances were also highly praised. Karas was the recipient of many awards and honors throughout his career. In 1951, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by the Czechoslovak government in recognition of his contributions to Czech culture. He was also awarded the Order of Merit by the Czechoslovak government in 1968. In 1979, he was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in recognition of his contributions to American culture. Karas continued to perform and record throughout his career, and he remained an active musician until his death on December 5, 2001, at the age of 92. He was widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of his time, and his recordings and performances continue to be admired by classical music enthusiasts around the world.

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