The Košice State Philharmonic
The Slovak State Philharmonic, Košice (SFK) was established in 1968 as a Professional concert symphonic orchestra in Slovakia. The orchestra gained recognition among professionals as well as among public in a short time and became one of the prominent representatives of the Slovak interpretation art at home and abroad. The orchestra consisting of Professional musicians was significantly successful on concert stages not only those of European countries, but those of North America and Asia as well. The SFK had concerts at international music festivals and in important cultural centres such as Vienna, Salzburg, Berlin, Budapest, Prague, Antwerp, Lisbon, Barcelona, Athens, Reims, Hong-Kong, Luxemburg, New York, etc. and cooperated with numerous world-known artists such as Igor Oistrakh, Gidon Kremer, Giora Feidman, Ivan Moravec, Josef Suk, Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Edita Gruberová, Serge Koptchak, Peter Mikuláš, Peter Dvorský, Viktor Fedotov, Valery Gergiev, Emin Khachaturian, NatanRachlin, Thomas Sanderling, Alexander Rahbari, Tadeusz Strugala, Jiří Bělohlávek, etc. At the turn of years 2014/2015 SFK had concert tour in China. In addition to its active concert activities SFK presents its art also by means of recordings for radio, television and recording companies (more than 160 CDs). The repertoire of the orchestra includes all popular Works ranging from Baroque to the music of the 21st century. As the only orchestra in Slovakia SFK has been the main organizer of two international festivals with a long tradition and acknowledged reputation – The Košice Music Spring Festival and The International Organ Festival of Ivan Sokol and the co-organizer of the Festival of Contemporary Art ARS NOVA.