Alžbeta Rajterová

PhDr. Alžbeta Rajterová is a Slovak musicologist, music journalist, dramaturge, and organizer of musical life. She studied musicology at the Faculty of Arts of Comenius University, where she also completed her doctoral studies.

From 1961 to 1988, she worked as a dramaturge at the Slovak Philharmonic, and subsequently became the deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine Hudobný život (Musical Life). She served as director of the Slovak Philharmonic from 1991 to 1995 and, during that time, was also an editor of the musicological journal Slovak Music – A Review for Musical Culture. Since 1997, she has led the editorial team of this journal. Between 1999 and 2002, she was the editor-in-chief of Hudobný život.

Alžbeta Rajterová was a founding member of the team that initiated the participation of young Slovak musicians in the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, which was supported by the Slovak Philharmonic under the direction of Ladislav Mokrý.

As an organizer of musical events, dramaturge, and editor, she has collaborated on numerous festivals and concert series such as Melos-Étos, Fórum mladých (Young Forum), Musica sacra Europaea, Days of Early Music, and the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival in Austria.

At the prestigious Austrian festival Osterfestspiele Salzburg in 1996, she worked on the preparation of Gustav Mahler’s 3rd Symphony (as a German language coach for the guest Slovak Philharmonic Choir) and interpreted during rehearsals of Verdi’s opera Otello (conductor Claudio Abbado) between the Italian director and the guest choir. In Berlin, she participated in the recording of Leoš Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared (as a Czech language coach for soloist Philip Landgridge) with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Claudio Abbado.

She is also a founding member of the civic association Albrecht Forum, where she is responsible for programming and dramaturgy.

She has contributed to several publications with her texts: Orchestre v bývalej ČSFR a na Slovensku po r. 1989 (100 let České filharmonie; Orchestras in the former Czechoslovakia and in Slovakia after 1989, 100 Years of the Czech Philharmonic, 1996), 100 slovenských skladateľov (100 Slovak Composers – selected entries, 1998), and Slovenská filharmónia v kontexte slovenskej hudobnej kultúry (The Slovak Philharmonic in the Context of Slovak Musical Culture, In: Slovenská hudba, 1999/4).

Alžbeta Rajterová is also active as a translator and professional editor, having contributed to works such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt: Hudobný dialóg (Nikolaus Harnoncourt: Musical Dialogue, translator and professional editor), Bratislavské hudobné slávností 40 (Bratislava Music Festival 40 – publication for the 40th anniversary of BHS, editor and author of the introductory text Bratislavské hudobné slávnosti – Stručný pohľad do histórie; Bratislava Music Festival – A Brief Historical Overview), Richard H. Hoppin: Music of the Middle Ages (editor of the Slovak translation and professional editor), Tibor Tallián: Béla Bartók, a monograph (editor and professional editor of the translation from Hungarian), and Šesťdesiatka „Slovenský hudobný zázrak“ (Sixty Years of the “Slovak Musical Miracle” – a publication marking the 60th anniversary of the Slovak Philharmonic, author of the analysis of the Philharmonic’s programming over 60 years).

She has authored many original texts for the Slovak Philharmonic’s concert bulletins, as well as for magazines such as Hudobný život and Slovak music, and she has written liner notes for several CD albums (e.g. Franz Schmidt: Complete Symphonies, OPUS Bratislava 1987, among others).

In 2020, Alžbeta Rajterová was awarded the Pribina Cross, 2nd Class, a state honor presented by the President of the Slovak Republic, Zuzana Čaputová, for her exceptional contributions to the cultural development of Slovakia in the field of music.