Franz Vlashek

Franz Vlashek (21 June 1902 — 15 June 1994, Arlington, Virginia) was a Latvian and American cellist who played in the National Symphony Orchestra under Mstislav Rostropovich for many years and recorded with several prominent jazz musicians, including Charlie Byrd and Thelonious Monk. Franz lived in Riga in the 1920s and later emigrated to the United States, settling in Washington, DC. His sister, Helena Vlashek, married pianist Simon Barere (1896—1951) and later was a prominent educator, teaching at the New England Conservatory Of Music; among her students were Earl Wild and Edwin Hymovitz.