The violin virtuoso and conductor Josef Suk is a representative of a line of Czech performing art of the past fifty years. He has developed the legacy of his excellent teachers, mainly Jaroslav Kocian and his grandfather, the composer Josef Suk, who for a long-time was a member of the famed Czech Quartet. From the beginning of his solo career Suk has also been interested in chamber playing, and was for a short time the first violinist of the Prague Quartet (1950–52), and then for a long time of the Suk Trio, which he had established in 1951. In 1961 he was appointed soloist of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Suk has a special liking for the viola, the instrument of his great grandfather Antonín Dvořák. In 1981 he became the artistic leader and conductor of the Suk Chamber Orchestra. His recordings have won various prizes, such as the Grand Prix du disque de l´Academie Charles Cros in Paris six times, in 1972 he won the Edison Prize in Holland, in 1974 the “Wiener Flötenuhr” prize of the Mozart Society in Vienna, and many others. In 1977 Josef Suk received the Golden Disc of Culumbia, the Golden Disc of Supraphon in 1986 and in 1999 he was granted the Platinum Disc of Supraphon for 1,112,000 recordings sold. He has been a teacher of violin playing and has sat on many juries of international competitions. He has also taken part in the work of foundations such as the Dvořák Foundation for Young Performers in Prague. He is president and chairman of the artistic board of the Prague Spring International Music Festival.