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∙ZDENEK KOSLER, 34. of Prague, made all the others look like gifted amateurs. He was the professional, the scholarly genius, the gently firm hand—a bulgy, balding, smiling junior George Szell. He played Mozart as well as he played Dvorak, and at the final concert, he alone was called back for bows from the podium.
Kosler is already a major musician in Czechoslovakia, where he is permanent conductor of the Ostrava State Opera and a regular guest with the Czech Philharmonic in Prague. He won the Besancon Competition in 1956, and since then has toured Hungary. Rumania. Bulgaria and the Soviet Union. Rosier seemed so much music's master that it was a mystery why he should want to dally as an assistant conductor at Philharmonic Hall. "He'll spend a year just watching Bernstein conduct." said a worried musician, "and he'll forget how to do it himself."