Stanislav Šurin

Mgr. art. Stanislav Šurin, PhD. is a Slovak organist, music event organizer, and university lecturer. He studied organ performance at the Conservatory in Bratislava, continued his studies in organ and liturgical music in Vienna, and later at the Academy of Performing Arts (VŠMU) in Bratislava. He also took private organ lessons with Johann Trummer. In 2011, he defended his doctoral dissertation Petr Eben and his improvisational work Labyrint světa a ráj srdce at the Faculty of Education of the Catholic University in Ružomberok.

Between 2014 and 2016, he studied at the Diplomatic Academy – Karol Rybárik Institute of International Relations at Comenius University in Bratislava. He served as editor-in-chief of the journal on sacred music Adoramus Te, and as an organist in several parishes. Since 2018, he has been working as an assistant professor at the Theological Institute of the Catholic University in Spišské Podhradie.

Šurin has performed with the Slovak Philharmonic under conductors such as Ondrej Lenárd, Rastislav Štúr (Suchoň’s Symphonic Fantasy on B-A-C-H), Jan Rozehnal, and Eberhard Kloke. He collaborates artistically with Blanka Juhaňáková, the Slovak Philharmonic Choir, the Symphony Orchestra of Slovak Radio in Bratislava, the Slovak Chamber Orchestra of Bohdan Warchal, the ensemble Solamente naturali, the State Chamber Orchestra of Žilina, and Trnava-based choirs Tirnavia (dir. Andrej Rapant) and Musica vocalis (dir. Branislav Kostka). His chamber music partners include Miloš Valent, Vladimír Jaško, Rastislav Suchan, Marek Bielik, Juraj Mitošinka, Jana Pastorková, Hilda Gulyásová, Petra Noskaiová, and Anna Einarson. He gave the premiere performance of Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass in Taiwan with the Taipei National Orchestra (2000).

Stanislav Šurin has given solo organ recitals in many European countries (Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, Hungary, former Yugoslavia, Germany, Ireland, England) and in the Americas (USA, Mexico, Canada).

He is also active as a composer. He is the author of the Trnava Mass and several compositions based on sacred and liturgical texts. He has set to music poems by French and Slovak authors (Paul Verlaine, Guillaume Apollinaire, Miroslav Válek).

His organizational activities are equally significant. He is the founder and chairman of the Slovak Bach Society (since 2000), and the founder and artistic director of the following festivals: Trnava Organ Days (since 1996) Organ Days in Piešťany (since 1999) Musica Sacra Skalica (since 2006) Music in Trnava Cathedral (2006–2007) Laudatio organi (since 2009) He also collaborates on events such as Trnava Musical Spring and the International Cathedral Organ Festival in Bratislava.

He organizes scientific conferences focused on sacred music, the study and preservation of historical organs, and has initiated and coordinated the construction of new organs in major Slovak venues – including the Slovak Philharmonic, St. Martin’s Cathedral in Bratislava, St. Nicholas Basilica in Trnava, the church in Dolný Kubín, St. Emeram’s Cathedral in Nitra, the parish church in Skalica, and the Evangelical Church in Nitra.

Stanislav Šurin is also involved in cultural diplomacy and the international promotion of Slovak art (e.g., in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and elsewhere). He has participated in several international mobility programs (Hong Kong, Regensburg, Cuneo) and has worked as a lecturer and moderator at various cantor training courses.

In addition to receiving the Sebastian Prize and the Fra Angelico Award, in 2015 he was awarded the Prize of the Folk Music Society at the Slovak Music Union for the best-placed Slovak recording for the composition Ivorie (a folk song from Terchová for female voices and organ, performed by the vocal group Trio z chotára z Terchovej and Stanislav Šurin, produced by RTVS – now STV).