Czech composer, guitarist and pedagogue Jan Truhlar was born in 1928. He received a Chemistry degree and completed preliminary work in composition in Kolin, Prague. Amidst communist outbreaks, he was granted admission to the Prague Conservatory in 1948 to study guitar with Stephan Urban and composition with Czech organist, conductor, and church music composer Frantisek Picka. Truhlar completed his graduate studies in 1959 with Czech composer Pavel Borkovec at the Academy of Musical Arts in Prague. Jan won several guitar and composition competitions, has taught at the Conservatory in Prag, the Hochshule in Perg, and the Conservatory in Budweis, and has been given several honors including the title 'Ambassador of the Composition Union' in 1979. He emigrated to Austria in 1981 becoming a citizen by 1988. He retired in 1993 without pension because he was only employed for 12 years in Austria. Truhlar's use of harmony is comparable to Janacek, and his knowledge and use of dodecaphonic techniques was tempered by his neo-classic view of form and balance. Jan Truhlar is alive and well in Austria. (2000)
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