Stephan Rak's Biography

Štěpán Rak was born in 1945 at the end of World War II. He was found by Russian soldiers in Ukraine and taken to Prague where he was adopted and brought up by foster parents. His artistic aspirations were immediately noticed so he went on to study graphic art and painting at the Fine Arts School in Prague. The music attracted him more so at the age of eighteen he started playing the guitar and the double-bass in various jazz and Rock'n'Roll bands. He made a great progress and soon began to be interested in classical music. He studied guitar and composition at the Prague Conservatory, where the astonishing career of this outstanding composer and performer began. After he graduated he moved to Finland where he worked, taught and lived for five years. His reputation as a brilliant guitarist and an innovative composer spread worldwide.

Stepan Rak is an excellent performer and a unique composer ranking to the elite of the classical guitar. He is well known for the technical innovations that he uses in his compositions. His five-finger guitar technique captivates audiences throughout the world. He has performed and given master-classes in more than seventy countries. He composed countless pieces for different instruments and ensembles including a symphony orchestra but the majority of his work is dedicated to the solo guitar.

In 1981, Rak established classical guitar studies at the Prague Academy of Musical Arts where he has been teaching ever since. He was appointed the first university professor of the guitar studies in the Czech Republic.

In 2001 he was the first guitarist to give a solo concert at the Rachmaninoff Hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow where he performed a premiere of his "20.000 Leagues Beneath The Sea" dedicated to the victims of "Kursk". The following year he returned to Moscow to play his own compositions as the first classical guitarist in the history at the Moscow Autumn Music Festival. Another important performance was at the NATO Summit 2002 in Prague.