A native of Plzeň (Pilsen), Karel Janovický (*1930) has lived, since 1949, in Great Britain. His main activity is composition, but he also goes in for pedagogical, publishing and translation work. For nine years he was Head of the Czechoslovak Section of the BBC World Service. Since 2007 he has also been a member of the West Bohemian Music Centre.
Karel Janovický dedicated to the Orchestra Atlantis his Concerto for Strings, premiered in Plzeň in 2003. The following year, this composition was recorded by the radio. Prelude and Double Fugue were originally intended for a string quartet. At this concert they were played, for the first time, by a string orchestra.