<\/p>\n
My memories of the early years of my involvement with the Kocian Violin Competition in the 1990s (as an editor of the Bulletin) are always connected with the eve of the competition, when I used to meet Professor V\u00e1clav Sn\u00edtil in the streets of the town.<\/span><\/p>\n Wearing his characteristic beret, he would stroll through \u00dast\u00ed nad Orlic\u00ed, recalling times long past, when he used to come here together with his teacher, Jaroslav Kocian.<\/span><\/p>\n These meetings with Professor Sn\u00edtil took place almost every year, and I would always look out for the silhouette of his figure, as it marked, for me, the true beginning of the competition. For newer visitors, it is worth noting that V\u00e1clav Sn\u00edtil served as a jury member of the Kocian Violin Competition thirty times, and from 1976 to 2000 he acted as its chairman. The guiding principle of his life as a musician was to preserve and promote the legacy of his teacher Jaroslav Kocian, and he undoubtedly succeeded in doing so on many fronts: through his masterful performances, his pedagogical work, and his activity on the competition jury. His recordings of Kocian\u2019s compositions are also of great value, offering a direct insight and guidance into how the composer himself might have interpreted his works.<\/span><\/p>\n If you would like to follow in Jaroslav Kocian\u2019s footsteps through \u00dast\u00ed nad Orlic\u00ed, you can visit the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, where the Master once performed with the local St Cecilia Music Society. The most important place, of course, is Jaroslav Kocian\u2019s birthplace. It is easy to find \u2014 in the street leading from the square, just behind the S\u00e1zava bakery and the pharmacy, you will see a vegetarian restaurant; that is the house. On the first floor, there is a memorial plaque with a portrait commemorating the date of Kocian\u2019s birth, 22 February 1883.<\/span><\/p>\n If you have the time and inclination to continue your walk, just outside the town towards Letohrad stands Kocian\u2019s villa. Clearly visible from the road above the Orlice valley, it offers a truly rewarding view. Impossible to miss, it is a genuine landmark of the area. On its gable, you can see large sculpted letters \u201cJ K\u201d along with the silhouette of a violin.<\/span><\/p>\n After Jaroslav Kocian\u2019s death, the first owners of the villa were the Kudrn\u00e1\u010d family. As Mrs Eva Kudrn\u00e1\u010dov\u00e1-\u0160tanclov\u00e1 was a dance teacher at the local music school, nothing prevented music-loving visitors from admiring the place where Kocian had once lived during the competition. Several photographs document visits to the villa from the early 1960s, among those pictured are Professor V\u00e1clav Sn\u00edtil and a young competitor, V\u00e1clav Hude\u010dek. Mrs Kudrn\u00e1\u010dov\u00e1-\u0160tanclov\u00e1 fondly recalled hosting her guests with homemade fruit pastries, which the young Hude\u010dek clearly enjoyed \u2014 they disappeared in no time at all!<\/span><\/p>\n And the years go by\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Mirek N\u011bmec<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My memories of the early years of my involvement with the Kocian Violin Competition in the 1990s (as an editor of the Bulletin) are always connected with the eve of the competition, when I used to meet Professor V\u00e1clav Sn\u00edtil in the streets of the town. Wearing his characteristic beret, he would stroll through \u00dast\u00ed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-novinky-soutez"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9KsEQ-21t","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7779"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7789,"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7779\/revisions\/7789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}