Autographed youthful postcard photograph of the Czech conductor and violinist.

Milan Zuna  (1881 - 1960)

From 1897-1902 he studied violin with Jan Mařák and Otakar Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory, the same teachers as Vaclav Talich.  He also studied composition with Karl Knittl and Karel Stecker. He also studied conducting with Ludvik Čelanský.  From 1905-1907 he was the concert master and the second conductor of the Czech Philharmonic.  From there he went to the Vinohrady Theater where from 1907-1909 he was the first conductor of the Vinohrady Theater Opera. From 1909 he was an opera conductor in Zagreb, in Lvov, in Poznan.  From 1920-1923 he was the Director of opera at the Slovak National Theater in Bratislava, and also in the same position in Lvov and Katowice.  From 1931-1932 he was a conductor in Warsaw (Teatr Wielk). At the invitation of Otakar Ostrčil he moved to the National Theater in Prague in the middle of 1933, where he already appeared as a guest in the 1920s. In 1939 he was appointed Deputy Head of Opera at the National Theater and retired in 1943. After the liberation of 1945 he led the opera of the Šalda Theater in Liberec and from 1946-1951 the opera of the Slovak National Theater Bratislava. As an opera and symphonic conductor, he also contributed to the development of Czech-Polish and Czech-Southern Slavic musical relations. Since the beginning of his active artistic activities, he has been actively organizing music and cultural life in Bohemia and Slovakia, in Yugoslavia and in Poland. For this activity he was awarded high Polish and Croatian orders. He  contributed to the development of artistic preconditions for the emergence and development of the Slovak professional music theater.

Harmonie Autographs and Music, Inc.

Music Antiquarian & Appraiser

New York, New York