Otakar Ševčík

Otakar Ševčík (1852–1934) was a Czech violinist and prominent music educator. He graduated from the Prague Conservatory in 1870 and became a concertmaster at the Mozarteum, Salzburg. Sevcik had been performing both solo and with various ensembles, and occasionally with Eugène Ysaÿe. From 1875 to 1892, Otakar Sevcik was a professor of violin at the music school of the Russian Music Society in Kiev, at the same time frequently appearing as a soloist. He returned to Czechoslovakia in 1892 and served as a head of the violin department at the Prague Conservatory until 1906. Ševčík was a director of the violin department at the Vienna Music Academy from 1909 to 1918, resigning after the end of World War I due to his nationality. Otakar returned to the Prague Conservatory and worked there until 1921. The musician also had been teaching privately in Písek and abroad, in the United States and Great Britain. Some of his notable students include Jan Kubelík, Jaroslav Kocián, Efrem Zimbalist, Joan Manén, Victor Kolar, Erica Morini, Rudolf Kolisch, Willem Van Hoogstraten, Silvestre Revueltas and Eugenia Umińska.