Josef Suk, a Czech violinist who was known for his warm-toned interpretations of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy and Janacek as well as for his lineage — he was a great-grandson of Dvorak and a grandson of the turn-of-the-century violinist and composer also named Josef Suk — died on Wednesday in Prague. He was 81 and a lifelong Prague resident. The cause was prostate cancer, said Antonin Matzner, a program adviser at the Prague Spring International Music Festival, of which Mr. Suk was honorary president.
Tall, elegant and silver-haired, Mr. Suk pronounced souk, at the height of his career, projected a thoughtfulness and an authority in his music-making that more than compensated for his disinclination to wrap his performances in technical flashiness. New York Times

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano’) about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia’ column for Dancing Times magazine.