Jaroslav Blaho

Jaroslav Blaho was a theatrologist, theatre and music critic and historian, opera dramaturge and publicist. He graduated in theatre studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (1968).

He was one of the founders, creators and compilers of the Archive of the Theatre Institute, which he also headed in 1991-1994. He worked permanently at the Theatre Institute (Institute of Art Criticism and Theatre Documentation, National Theatre Centre) from 1967 until his retirement in 2002.

Since the mid-1960s he has devoted himself to critical and journalistic work in the field of opera. He was the author and presenter of hundreds of radio and television programmes, he prepared pre-premiere matinees at the Opera of the Slovak National Theatre, the musical and verbal chamber programme Continuity and the so-called opera evenings at the Slovak National Gallery. He already published his reviews during his studies in the newspaper Smena and the magazine Film a divadlo (Film and Theatre). From 1969 he collaborated with the magazine Hudobný život (Music Life) on the Opera Operný zápisník (Notebook column) and was also editor of Slovak Music.

He was the author of the monograph Legenda bez legiend. Peter Dvorský a jeho doba (Legend without Legends. Peter Dvorský and His Time, 2011), the chapter Hudobné divadlo v rokoch 1928 – 1945 in the publication Dejiny slovenského divadla I (Musical Theatre in the Years 1928-1945 in the publications History of Slovak Theatre I, 2018), and was co-author of Slovenské divadlo v 20. storočí (Slovak Theatre in the 20th Century, 1999). He also made an entry in the forthcoming 10-part television documentary Storočnica SND  (Centenary of the Slovak National Theatre, 2020).

He founded the summer opera festival Zámocké hry zvolenské, which he led and formed dramaturgically throughout its existence from 1979 to 2014. This event focused on concert performances of forgotten Italian bel canto operas (early Verdi) and pre-Verdi operas (Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini) in Slovak premieres, as well as performances of new Slovak operas in their premieres. Thanks to Jaroslav Blah, world-famous singers - soloists from prestigious opera capitals such as Verona, Milan, Vienna, London and New York have also been performing here.

In 2013 he received the Literary Fund Award for Lifetime Achievement. In the 20th edition of the Dosky 2015, he received the award of the Slovak Centre of the International Association of Theatre Critics and Historians ASSITEJ for his extraordinary contribution to the field of theatre as the first Slovak theatre artist, and in 2017 he received the Order of the Italian Star for his special attention to Italian opera in Slovakia from the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella. The Slovak National Theatre's Commemorative Medal was awarded to him on the occasion of his significant jubilee by Marián Chudovský, Director General of the Slovak National Theatre.