Kolar, Victor
Kolar, Victor
Kolar, Victor, Bohemian-American violinist, conductor, and composer; b. Budapest (of Bohemian parents), Feb. 12, 1888; d. Detroit, June 16, 1957. After initial violin training with Jan Kubelik, he studied violin with èevcik and composition with Dvorak at the Prague Cons, (graduated, 1904). He then settled in the U.S. He was a violinist in the Chicago Sym. Orch. (1904–05), the Pittsburgh Sym. Orch. (1905–08), and the N.Y. Sym. Orch. (1908–20), serving the latter as asst. conductor as well (1914–20). He subsequently became a violinist in the Detroit Sym. Orch., and also held various conducting posts with it until 1942. After teaching at the Arthur Jordan Cons, of Music in Indianapolis, he returned to Detroit to conduct its Scandinavian Sym. Orch. (1950–53) and Women’s Sym. Orch. (1950–57); also taught at the Inst. of Musical Arts (1950–56). He wrote a Sym. (N.Y., Jan. 28, 1916); Hiawatha, symphonic poem (Pittsburgh, Jan. 31, 1908); Americana, symphonic suite (1912); Slovakia, rhapsody for Orch. (1922); many songs.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire