Robert James Dvorak

Robert James Dvorak (born October 3, 1919 in Chicago , Illinois ) is an American composer , horn player and music teacher .

Dvorak's father was a trumpeter of Czech origin and his mother was from Norway . At the age of eight he had his first music and piano lessons with the Czech composer Frank Mulacek and from the age of twelve he took horn lessons with the conductor Karel Husa . Later he also took lessons from Josef Mourek , Max Pottag and Philip Farkas . At J. Sterling Morton High School and College in Cicero , Illinois, he was a student of Louis M. Blaha from 1933 to 1937 .

He then attended the Chicago Musical College Conservator and studied composition with Max Wald . In 1941 he was drafted into the army and became principal solo horn with the United States Military Academy Band . After the Second World War he continued his music studies in Chicago and became a member of the Tudor Madrigal Singers , which also performed some of Dvorak's compositions under William Ballard's direction. He then taught at Wilson Junior College in Chicago and in 1949 was commissioned by James Baar , the choir conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra , to compose the Christmas cantata The Nativity , which premiered that same year.

During the Korean War , Dvorak was the assistant bandmaster of the US Military Academy Band at West Point under the direction of Francis E. Resta . He composed and arranged several works for the band, and the third movement of his West Point Symphony became a classic of literature for wind band. After Blaha's death in 1953, he became head of the music department at JS Morton College and High School and director of art education at J. Sterling Morton College ; he held the latter post until 1980. In 1955 he founded the summer music camp for young musicians in Camp Lake, which he also directed until 1980. In three summers he also taught at the National Music Camp in Interlochen.

As president of the Illinois Music Educators Association , he sent 300 students to the International Society for Music Education Conference in France in 1969 . Since representatives of several socialist states also took part in the conference, the CIA became interested in him on suspicion of communist activities. Between 1970 and 1974 he was President of the Chicago and Midwest Chapter of the International Society for Contemporary Music . In 1975 he went on a concert tour with students through Czechoslovakia , Austria and Hungary . Since 1990 Dvorak has lived as a composer and member of the Czech Cultural Center Houston in Richmond , Texas .

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personal data
SURNAME	Dvorak, Robert James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American composer, music teacher and horn player
DATE OF BIRTH	October 3, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH	Chicago , Illinois