Oskar Nedbal (1874–1930)

Czech conductor, composer and violist, member of the Czech Quartet. He attended the Prague Conservatoire and studied composition under Antonín Dvořák; he also visited Dvořák at his summer residence in Vysoká on several occasions. As a conductor he took significant measures to promote Dvořák’s music abroad and played a fundamental role in ensuring its popularity in France, where he conducted his works at concerts during the World Fair in Paris in 1900. In Prague he performed the world premieres of Dvořák’s Rhapsody in A minor (1904) and Tragic Overture (1905).