Personality: Elena Filippi

Interview: Opera Studio of the Slovak National Theatre – Jolana Fogašová

Music Plus: OĽUN 2.0

Club: Ladislav Fančovič on Bernstein, Gershwin (and Khachaturian)

Festivals: Bratislava Mozart Festival, New Slovak Music, BassFest

Concerts: State Philharmonic Košice – ŠKO Žilina – Slovak Philharmonic and Slovak Philharmonic Choir, Czech Philharmonic, SOSR

Musical Theatre: Hamburg – Ruslan and Lyudmila

Auris interna: Echo of Time

CD Reviews

Short Story: The Illustrator (V. Rozenbergová)

Spanish has a term for them: aficionados. People who are totally passionate about something, specifically for example about playing historical clarinets – like the charismatic Italian Lorenzo Coppola, who led the Schöllnast Consort at this year’s Bratislava Mozart Festival – or about the double bass, like the lecturers who gathered this autumn at the 15th edition of the Banská Bystrica BassFest. Aficionados are also the people behind these events, namely Róbert Šebesta and Ján Krigovský and the teams around them. And we could name many more. Thanks to them, the concert and festival autumn in Slovakia always means a rich harvest – no matter how unflattering the current situation in the cultural sphere may look…

Another group of aficionados are musicians of the younger generation who studied classical music but have a deep love for folklore and today form an entirely new face of the Orchestra of Folk Instruments of Slovak Radio. You can read more about the history of the ensemble, which will soon celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, as well as about its new paths and the challenges it faces, in an interview with its artistic director Ján Kružliak Jr.

A similar dose of enthusiasm and hard organizational work is required to continue the Opera Studio of the Slovak National Theatre, an institution that does not yet have a long tradition, but for young graduates of operatic singing fulfills an almost vital function under our conditions. (Not only) about the challenges and pitfalls of this work you can learn in an interview by Klára Madunická with the head of the Opera Studio, soloist of the SND Opera Jolana Fogašová.

Thirdly, we bring an interview with Elena Filippi, the longest continuously serving orchestral dramaturge in Slovakia. She has devoted her professional life to the State Chamber Orchestra Žilina, where she has held the position for an admirable 44 years. This is not only enough time for memories and reflection, but also further proof that the functioning of our culture fundamentally depends on passionate individuals devoted to their calling.

Naturally, this is not all. The concert and festival autumn also brought a handful of new music at the festivals New Slovak Music and NEXT – you can read about the former in the December issue, while the latter will be covered in next year’s winter double issue. I believe that we will meet again while reading it – after a calm period of holiday rest filled with interesting music.

Thank you for remaining our aficionados!

Robert Kolář