Vilém Tauský was a Czech conductor and composer born on July 20, 1910, in PÅerov, Moravia. He studied with LeoÅ¡ JanáÄek and made his conducting debut at age nineteen with Turandot by Puccini in Brno on short notice. The rise of the Nazis forced him to move to France, and he eventually reached the UK in 1940 after the fall of France. During the Coventry Blitz, Tauský wrote "Coventry Meditation" for strings while based in Leamington Spa. From 1945 to 1949, he was musical director of the Carl Rosa Opera Company and later became music director of Welsh National Opera (1951â1956). He made his Covent Garden début with The Queen of Spades in January 1951. Tauský introduced many Czech operas to the UK and conducted several premieres of British operas. As a composer, his most popular success was the Harmonica Concertino, written for Tommy Reilly in 1973. He died on March 16, 2004, in London.
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