Jaroslav Vodrážka

“The musician does not invent improvisation, instead he humbly mediates to his listeners what his soul is full of” – these are words of one the best Czech improvisers, Jaroslav Vodrážka (1930 - 2019), organist, composer and pedagogue.
He studied organ at the Prague Conservatory of Music and at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Prague. During his concert activity he excelled at organ improvisation which made him famous not only in our country but in all Europe. He was a teacher at both the Prague Conservatory of Music and the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Prague. He passed his experience in organ, improvisation and Gregorian chant interpretation on to most of the contemporary well-known organists in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia. Many pupils came to him from abroad and to study with prof. J. Vodrážka. In the field of composition he focused on sacred music. He made many recordings for radio, television, and published several CD’s.