His marimba concertos would not have been possible without two composers he holds in high esteem. To penetrate the secrets of the concerto form, he first took lessons with Hanuš Bartoň, a composer and teacher at the Prague Academy of Music and Drama.

A great admirer of Leonard Bernstein and composers who feel at home in jazz and can draw on it, Kokoška also studied with one of them, Alexej Fried, a composer who has revolutionized contemporary artificial Czech music, and to whom he will always be greatly indebted for invaluable and unforgettable composition lessons.

Himself a good pianist, Kokoška was from the very beginning of his performing career greatly influenced by jazz piano, especially Dave Brubeck, who has inspired both his marimba technique and his composition.

His Concerto No. 1 for marimba, solo violin and strings was premiered by him as soloist with the Prague Chamber Orchestra Without Conductor in the Rudolfinum Hall, Prague, in 1995, after his almost six-year absence from concert stage. It was very well received by the audience and favourably critically acclaimed. See PRESS CUTTINGS

Played again with this orchestra, the concerto was subsequently performed and recorded in the Czech TV, and later, with Vladimír Válek and his Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, in the Czech Radio.

Concerto No. 2 for marimba, Baroque trumpet and strings, was premiered in 2000, again with the Prague Chamber Orchestra in the Rudolfinum (where it was recorded live for the Czech Radio), this time under the baton of Roberto Montenegro of Uruguay, who invited Kokoška to perform this concerto with him in Montevideo the next year in a special benefit concert entitled ”Music Between Three Cities: Jerusalem, Prague, Montevideo - Music From the Heart”, where Kokoška featured in the programme next to one of the world´s finest flutists Noam Buchman of Israel; Jerusalem was also represented by Bem Heim´s Fanfare for Israel. Performed with La Orchesta Sinfónica del Sodre of Montevideo, Kokoška´s Marimba Concerto was chosen as ”a rarity in the symphonic repertoire” (El Pais 2001/6/26) to represent Prague, next to Mozart’s Flute Concerto and Dvořák´s Symphony No.8.

See www.bblatinoamerica.org/uruguay/notas/

The premiere of his Concerto No.3 for marimba, solo oboe and strings took place in the Berlin Philharmonie at the end of 2000, and in the same year the three concertos were recorded on a CD. See RECORDINGS where music with music samples.

The character of music in these marimba concertos has been described in greater detail in the last two PRESS CUTTINGS