Tomáš Svoboda (3)

Czech-American composer of classical music, born December 6, 1939, in Paris, France; died November 17, 2022 in Portland, Oregon. Prior to enrolling in formal composition studies, Svoboda composed a number of works, including his SYMPHONY No. 1 (of Nature), Op. 20, completed at the age of 16. The premiere of this symphony in 1957 by the prestigious Prague Symphony Orchestra (Václav Smetáček, cond.) caused a sensation, for until Svoboda walked onto the stage to acknowledge the applause, many in the audience had not realized the 36 minute symphony had been composed by a 16 year old boy not yet even formally schooled in composition or orchestration. In 1962 after graduating from the Prague Conservatory with degrees in percussion, composition and conducting, Svoboda entered the Academy of Music in Prague. By this time, performances and radio broadcasts of Svoboda's orchestra works brought wide national recognition to Svoboda, clearly establishing him as Czechoslovakia's most important young composer. In 1964, his family departed Czechoslovakia and settled in the United States, where Svoboda enrolled at the University of Southern California as a graduate student in 1966. His compositional skills were already so well-developed that the department allowed him to forgo its usual program in order to study individually with Ingolf Dahl and then Department Chairman Halsey Stevens, a composer and Bartok scholar. Stevens has written, "It was almost embarrassing to have him come to lessons with work so completely and satisfactorily realized that it needed almost nothing in the way of criticism." After receiving a Master's degree with Honors in 1969, Tomas Svoboda accepted a position at Portland State University in Oregon where he taught composition and music theory for 27 years, retiring from full time teaching duties in June 1998. On Dec. 12th 2012, Tomas Svoboda suffered a massive stroke and was recovering at a Care Home in Portland, Oregon. He died November 17, 2022.