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Roman Patocka: music is as natural for me as breathing.

Article Excerpt
For some time now Czech music critics have had the pleasure of being able to say that we have several young violinists of both sexes who have a good chance of making an international career. One of them is the Jihlava-born Roman Patocka (b. 1981), a laureate of the Prague Spring Competition of 2003, whose time as concert master in the renowned Deutsches Simfonie Orchester has been an experience of key importance for him.

Let's start with the obligatory question. How did you come to play the violin?

When I was very small, around four, my mother told me about musical instruments and the idea of the violin appealed to me, so I decided I would play it.

What was your biggest problem ar the beginning?

Concentrating on practising for more than five minutes.

But I assume that changed later ...?

Later that improved a little ... Basically from seven or eight I was practicing by myself.

How much time do you devote to the violin now?

With essential pauses for food, travel, the Internet and correspondence--actually the whole day. It's my hobby, and so in fact when I'm playing it's my form of recreation too.

You trained first with Dagmar Zarubova at the Prague Conservatory and then with Ivan Straus at the music faculty of the Prague Academy of Performing Arts. What were your teachers like and what did they give you?

I was lucky, and both of them gave me the very best. Mrs. Zarubova tended to be strict, and impulsive and spent a lot of time on the persuasiveness of musical expression. She taught us that we work hard and practice hard. When I had a concert or competition coming up she devoted all her time to me; I often spent whole Saturday afternoons with her and she would make me supper at the end. Straus was an excellent psychologist and even despite his extensive knowledge in various different fields he remained a humble person and taught his pupils humility too. He taught in a truly university way. He tried to get me to think for myself and become aware of wider contexts. Among other things I am grateful to him for the beautiful instrument from P.O. Spidlen's workshop that he lent me for several years and which was a huge inspiration to me.

The chance to study abroad after 1990 was a brilliant development. What was your experience of it?

The first more important experience abroad for me was a three-month scholarship in the Netherlands, in Utrecht with Keiko Wataya. For me this opened the doors to a different interpretational understanding of pieces including "stricter" period interpretation. And also what I hadn't paid much attention to up to that point was the technique...

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