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Štepán Rak was born in Prague in 1945, and was the pupil of Štepán Urban at the conservatory of his native town. Prior to his musical vocation, he had completed studies in painting at the Prague art school. He graduated from the conservatory in 1975, having composed a first concerto for guitar and orchestra.
After working for several years as a professor at the Finnish conservatory of Jyväskylä, Štepán Rak was offered to teach guitar at the Prague Music Academy.
He then actively proceeded to promote his work as well as classical pieces via concerts performed all over Czechoslovakia.
Most of Štepán Rak's work is designed for guitar only, or for solo guitar and chamber music ensembles. An open-minded intellectual, Rak is deeply influenced by the Spanish repertoire. Amongst his other influences are ancient civilizations, prominent figures of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, his travels, his profound attachment to nature and a fascination for popular music. In short, Štepán Rak is one of the great guitar composers of these past twenty years. Born during the short interval that separated the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he believes in a world of love and harmony, as much between human beings themselves as between human beings and nature.
Some of the most significative pieces from Štepán Rak's vast body of work include «Danza mauretana», «Hiroshima», «Homenaje a Tarrega», «Tango», «Sonata mongoliana», «Romance Ontario», «Partita de Bohemia», «Terra Antralis».
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