Vaclav Nelhybel (24/09/1919 - 22/03/1996), a Czech composer and conductor. He was born in Polanka, Czechoslovakia. The Musical Director of Radio Free Europe in Munich, Germany from 1950 to 1957, Vaclav Nelhybel began his career as a conductor at Radio Prague and the City Theater of Prague, Czechoslovakia from 1939 to 1942. After World War II, he was named conductor and composer-in-residence at Swiss Radio and lecturer at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Mr. Nelhybel emigrated to the United States in 1957, and became a U.S. citizen in 1962. He lived in New York City, later moving to Ridgefield and Newtown, Connecticut, and relocated to Fleetville, Pennsylvania in 1994. Nelhybel worked as a composer, conductor, teacher and lecturer throughout the world. His work is deeply loved by students, musicians and audiences everywhere. Mr. Nelhybel's early education was under the guidance of the Jesuits in Prague. He studied musicology at Prague University and the University of Fribourg, and composition and conducting at the Conservatory of Music in Prague. His first composition, String Quartet No. 1, was published in 1950. Nelhybel published over 400 works, including operas and works for orchestra, band, chorus and smaller ensembles, especially wind instruments. In addition, more than 200 unpublished works in a wide variety of genres have been catalogued. Nelhybel guest conducted such European orchestras as the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra; Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Geneva; Munich Philharmonic Orchestra; and the Bavarian Symphony Orchestra. He composed and conducted a work for chorus and symphony as part of AustraliaⳠnational bicentennial celebration in 1984, and composed a piece premiered by the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra in honor of the 35th anniversary of the United Nations. Among Nelhybel's awards and honors are four honorary doctoral degrees in music from American universities, including a degree from the University of Scranton in 1985. At the time of his death on March 22, 1996 at the age of 76, Nelhybel was the composer-in-residence at the University of Scranton, where he co-founded and inaugurated the World Premiere Composition Series in 1984. His manuscripts, papers and recordings are on permanent loan to the University since the establishment of "The Nelhybel Collection" at The University of Scranton in the fall of 1999.