Konstantin Ilievsky

Konstantin Ilievsky, conductor, composer and pianist is known thanks to his performing at the European stage scene. Since 2020 he has been engaged as conductor of the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. He also works as music director of the Sinfonietta dell´Arte Orchestra and held for many years the identic position at the Dianopolis Orchestra in Yambol, Bulgaria. He cooperates on regular basis with the Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio and the Bulgarian Philharmonic in Sofia. He was a frequent guest in several renowned orchestra ensembles from both Europe and beyond, such as the Wiener Konzert Verein, ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra (Austria), LCO – the Luxembourg Chamber Orchestra, the Slovak Philharmonics Bratislava, State Chamber Orchestra Žilina (Slovak Sinfonietta), Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra (Poland), Orchestra of the National Opera and RTSH Orchestra in Tirana (Albania), China National Symphony Orchestra Ningbo, Orchestra Sinfonica del FPIAP Franz Liszt (Cosenza, Italy) and many others. He holds the Crystal Lyre Award in category Conductor for the exceptional concert with the Bulgarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and soloists of the Vienna and Stuttgart Opera, performing works by A. Bruckner, R. Strauss and G. Mahler.  He also teaches composing and conducting at the State Conservatory in Bratislava and has an engagement as composer-in-residence at the Proxima Project.

Ilievsky was born to a family of well-known Bulgarian musicians. At the age of 5 he started studying piano in Bulgarian Sofia and at the age of 14 he continued in his studies with Professor Peter Čerman at the State Conservatory in Bratislava.

At the same time he studied conducting with Professor Zdeňek Bílek and graduated in cooperation with the Orchestra and Chamber Choir of the Conservatory. He finished both studies with distinction.  In the same period, he also won numerous awards as a pianist at international competitions.
 
Later on, he studied composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Professor Detlev Müller-Siemens and conducting with Professor Uros Lajovic and graduated both studies with Master degrees.

He also attended several master seminars in orchestral conducting e.g. with Bertrand de Billy and Webern Sinfonietta Chamber Orchestra Vienna, with Ralf Weikert and Pro Arte Orchestra Vienna and with Daniel Harding and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. He made recordings for Slovak, Austrian and Bulgarian Radio and Television, his publication “Composer as an Interpreter of His Own Perception of the World” was released in Germany. In 2013 he was chosen as one of 20 finalists in the 53rd Conducting Competition Besancon, where he participated with Victor Hugo Orchestra (Franche Comté). In 2018 he conducted the official diplomatic concert that was held in Bratislava on the occasion of the Presidency of Bulgaria in the Council of European Union. At the beginning of 2019, he conducted the historically first concert tour of the Sofia Philharmonics in China where he performed with the soloists of the Belgrade and Burgas Opera for more than 20000 listeners.

Konstantin Ilievsky has cooperated on frequent basis with renowned world-known soloists, such as:
Ivan Danko, Svetlin Roussev, Jean-Marc Luisada, Peter Erdei, Wolfgang David, Ľudmila Peterková, Adil Fedorov, Robert Buschek, Svetlina Stoyanova, Jordana Palovičová, Ludmil Angelov, Linda Ballová, Ryan Martin Bradshaw, Teo Gertler, Peter Šandor, Lucia Kopsová, Margarete Babinsky, Theodosii Spasov, Jiye Lee, Alessandro Travaglini, Vittorio Ghielmi, Celine Roscheck, Jaroslav Pehal, Irina Vaterl,  Barbara Moser, Bojidar Noev, Angel Stankov, Iossif Radionov, Georgi Cherkin, as well as soloists from the families Kopachinskaya, Jablokov, Auner and Krastev.
 
Ilievsky’s works were introduced and performed by numerous orchestras and contemporary music ensembles such as: Ensemble Reconsil (Vienna, Austria), Quasars Ensemble (Bratislava, Slovakia), Wiener Konzert Verein (The Vienna Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra), ZOE Chamber Orchestra (Bratislava, Slovakia), Sinfonietta Vidin (Bulgaria), Sliven Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria), Blagoevgrad Chamber Opera (Bulgaria), Dianopolis Chamber Orchestra (Yambol, Bulgaria),  AGBU Armenian Chamber Orchestra (Sofia, Bulgaria), Gabrovo Chamber Orchestra (Bulgaria), Sinfonietta dell'Arte and the Occentric Symphony Orchestra (Vienna, Austria).

Adrian Kokoš

Since January 2004 Adrian has been choirmaster and conductor in the Slovak Radio, where he re-established the Slovak Radio Children’s Choir (in 2011 the Girls’ Choir was established and became a part of the Slovak Radio Children’s Choir). Besides his work with the radio choir, his dominant activity is cooperation with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.

He participated in many successful premières of works by Slovak as well as foreign composers. Since 2003 he has been cooperating with the Slovak composer Víťazoslav Kubička and presented in world première more than 20 works by this author. Adrian Kokoš has conducted several music ensembles from both Slovakia and abroad (Cappella Istropolitana, The Slovak State Philharmonic Košice, The Slovak Sinfonietta Žilina, The Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, The Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonics, Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, Johann Strauss Orchester Coburg, Metropolitan Orchestra Bratislava, Sinfonietta Bratislava, The Slovak Symphony Orchestra, The Lúčnica Chorus, The Slovak Philharmonic Choir, etc.).

As conductor, he performed at many renowned music festivals (International festival Musica Sacra in Nitra, Sacral Arts Festival in Košice, Viva Musica, Bratislava Music Festival, Pohoda Festival, Smetana’s Litomysl International Opera Festival, Dvorak’s Olomouc, Czech Touches of Music, Europäische Johann Strauss Bühnenwerke Festival, Peter Dvorsky International Festival in Jaroměřice, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival).

In the 2009/2010 season he cooperated as guest conductor with the State Opera in Banská Bystrica. He regularly cooperates with renowned Slovak as well as foreign musicians. He also participated at the 30. Summer Olympic Games in London - together with the world art-rock legend of YES Band - Jon Anderson and Slovak pop singer Miroslav Žbirka he conducted the Slovak representative concert in the famous Sadler’s Wells Theatre. With the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Slovak Radio Children’s Choir he recorded a number of classical repertoire pieces, as well as film music for movies such as Wilson City, Angel of the Lord 2, Svetozár Stračina, The Teacher, Barefoot, Dubček).

Adrian Kokoš is one of the few Slovak conductors successfully combining various musical styles and genres – he participated in many projects mixing jazz, pop, rock or folk music with classic symphony ensembles, creating various crossover acts.

Adrian Kokoš is a recognized artist and promoter of the Slovak vocal and instrumental music. His recordings were published by the Slovak Radio Records, Music Fund Slovakia and Universal Music. He regularly participates in productions of cultural programmes for Radio and Television Slovakia and for the Czech Television. In 2021 he took part in the Virtuosos V4+ classical music talent competition as jury member in the national competition round.