Education
He studied at Prague Conservatory under the tutelage of Professor Štěpán Urban, 1964–"68, and gave his first concert at the age of 17.
He studied at Prague Conservatory under the tutelage of Professor Štěpán Urban, 1964–"68, and gave his first concert at the age of 17.
He concluded his studies in Mexico with a concert at Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. In 1973 he performed as a soloist in Bergen, Norway, with Slovak Chamber Orchestra. In 1974 he performed Bach"s catalog in London to notable acclaim.
From 1972 to "76 he was a professor at Prague Conservatory.
The duo"s many appearances outside Czechoslovakia—filling concert halls in the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, United States of America, Great Britain, Mexico, Norway, Portugal and many other countries—established them internationally. According to Mexican journalist Isabel Farfán Cano, Janáček"s Fairy Tale was a brilliant staple of the duo"s concert programs.
Further, writes Cano of a particular concert in 1976, "the harmony of both instruments in creating sound coloration and tones was complemented by technical security, gradual and protruding."
In 1982 Večtomov accepted an invitation to join the faculty of Keski-Suomen konservatorio (later renamed Jyväskylän ammattikorkeakoulu), in Jyväskylä, Finland, where he continued to teach until 1998. He then returned to Prague and taught at Základní Umělecká Škola Lounskýchurch
Phonograph recordings of Večtomov have been issued on the Supraphon, Panton, and Melodiya labels.
In 2015 the Czechoslovakian music label Uneventful Records released a Civil Defense of previously unreleased archive recordings of Prague String Duo. Večtomov"s conservatory days are recounted in fellow pupil František Ringo Čech"s 1983 memoir Z mého života. His instrument was a Masaru Kohno Luthier, Tokyo, Model 20 1974 (string length: 660mm).
On October 12, 2015, at 12:30am, Vladimír Večtomov died in Tábor.
During his final year Večtomov had been placing finishing touches on an album of Prague String Duo archive recordings due for release in December 2015.
A salient feature of the duo"s repertory was its focus on Iberian composers, whom they favored owing to the national character of the accompanying instrument and the fact that Vladimír had for years studied on a Mexican government scholarship under the tutelage of guitarist Professor Manuel López Ramos in Mexico City.