Music Centre Slovakia is a contributory organisation established by the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic. Its mission is to promote Slovak music culture through various professional musicological activities. The history of the Music Centre in Slovakia begins in 1969, when Slovkoncert was founded - an artistic agency guaranteeing music festivals and individual concerts in the field of classical and popular music. The Music Centre is housed in a historically valuable townhouse building right in the heart of the Old Town, which has undergone various transformations over the centuries and served different purposes. At present, the institution consists of 5 departments, 4 of which deal with artistic and musicological activities.
The Department of Music Education (OHV) implements four main agendas:
1. Organizes Educational concerts for children and youth. These are a continuation of the so-called educational concerts for schools, which have been organised in Slovakia since 1956. Their aim is to bring quality concert art, adapted to children's listeners, to all corners of Slovakia. The music programmes in the Music Centre's portfolio: have an educational character, are performed by professional artists, are subsidised from the budget of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic, ...but most importantly: guarantee a nice and valuable artistic experience.
2. Manages the activities of the National Youth Orchestra of Slovakia, which is one of the main projects of the Music Centre and a priority project of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic. Its aim is to support the preparation of the young generation of musicians to perform in professional orchestras. The members of the Slovak Youth Orchestra are young musicians - students of Slovak conservatories and music faculties - on the basis of auditions. Since May 2017, the Music Centre, as the founder of the Slovak Youth Orchestra, has been part of the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras (EFNYO). The most notable success of the Slovak Youth Orchestra so far was its performance at the Konzerthaus in Berlin at the 20th International Young Euro Classic Festival and the broadcast of the concert recording on BBC Radio 3.
3. Supports young musical talents from Slovakia through the Young Talents’ Forum programme. The aim of the programme is to encourage participation in international performance competitions at home and abroad and to arrange concert performances in Slovakia.
4. Since 2006, the Ľudovít Rajter Award has been given to young concert artists (singer, instrumentalist, conductor) or chamber ensembles. The laureates are selected by an expert jury. The main criteria for the award are exceptional artistic performance and active contribution to the development and visibility of Slovak performing arts at home and abroad. The winner of the award will be issued a profile CD by the Music Centre. The recipients of the Ľudovít Rajter Award are:
Conductor Juraj Valčuha (2006)
violinist Milan Paľa (2009)
double bassist Roman Patkoló (2012)
violinist Dalibor Karvay (2016)
clarinetist Martin Adámek (2019)
trumpeter Stanislav Masaryk (2022)