Otto Frohlich Collection

Otto Frohlich was born in Czechoslovakia on April 10, 1905. He received his bachelor's degree from the College of Ostrava in 1926 and earned a degree as a composer and conductor at the Austrian State Academy of Music in Vienna in 1930. He conducted his first opera in Prague before the World War II started. He became a conductor of the Slavenska-Franklin Ballet Company and the Agnes de mille Dance in 1952.

Otto Frohlich was a victim of the Holocaust and lost all his family except his brother during the pre-World War II Nazi purge and in 1938, he fled to France. His wife's first cousin, Edith Buxbaum, and her husband sponsored Otto, his wife Herta and two daughters, Renee and Elizabeth to live in the United States. He was also included in a publication "International Biographical Archives and Dictionary of Central European Emigres, 1933-1945" which lists Jewish Immigrants of the Nazi Period in the United States. Publication also provides information for historians concerning emigration during the Nazi period.

After emigrated from Europe, Otto continued to practice his profession and was invited multiple times as a guest conductor to conduct concerts and ballet orchestras all over the World including New York, Cincinnati, Hawaii, Manila, Hong Kong and Japan. In 1963 and 1965, he earned first-price honors in competitions sponsored by the National Orchestra Association. He was also named recipient of Miami University Summer Appointments for full-time work in composition in 1959 and 1964. Otto Frohlich was a member of Miami University as a faculty from 1957 to 1973 served as a Professor of Music and Conductor of the Miami University Symphony Orchestra and Opera for 12 years.

After retirement, Otto moved to Orlando with his wife and started teaching at Valencia Community College. He served as musical advisor for Encore Opera, a non-profit group associated with the Florida Symphony Orchestra. On September 14, 1976, he was presented with an award in recognition of his achievements in the arts by the Council of Arts and Sciences for Central Florida.

Otto died on November 16, 1988 at the age of 88 and the funeral service was held at Colonial Carey Hand Guardian Chapel, Orlando, Florida.