„Music has the power to stimulate one´s creative potential, it may cultivate his mind and consciousness, support his psychical integration and help him in his transformation into a spiritual being and moral personality with a kind of Copernicus perspective.“
Roman Berger (Music and Truth)

The programme of the 2018/2019 concert season of the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (SOSR) follows up the structure which has been constantly appearing in the dramaturgy of season´s schedule creation and which has inseparably been associated with the history of this historically very first symphony ensemble in Slovakia. Since its establishment, SOSR has been offering on a regular basis artistic space for Slovak performers, promoting musical creation by Slovak composers and presenting contemporary music. To our big pleasure, the jubilee season of the orchestra will symbolically be opened by the Slovak conducting legend – Professor Ondrej Lenárd who as both conductor and chief-conductor in years 1970 – 1990 had significant influence on the artistic profile of the ensemble. Besides the former conductor Mario Košik, Peter Valentovič in the role of new conductor and Adrian Kokoš as the second conductor of the orchestra, the new season shall also feature other remarkable personalities in the field of conducting art, namely Rastislav Štúr (within his guest performance as conductor in the Slovak Philharmonic) and Martin Leginus. Moreover, SOSR will welcome on stage renowned Slovak soloists (Miroslav Dvorský, Miki Skuta, Jozef Lupták, Milan Paľa, Dalibor Karvay). Concert visitors may also look forward to listening to the debut performance given by the outstanding clarinettist Martin Adámek who works in the world-known Ensemble InterContemporain. The young generation of Slovak artists will be represented by the abroad-engaged female soprano Ingrida Gápová.
We are further pleased to advise the listeners of a joint performance of Slovak and foreign artists, as well as of Slovak music pieces rehearsed by performers from abroad. This had been one of the dramaturgical intentions when creating the programme of the season and we are now happy to confirm its successful realization.
The concerts will feature important musical works by authors of Slovak modernism (Eugen Suchoň: Metamorphosis, Ján Cikker: Memories), also worth mentioning is the project of introducing and recording a compilation of Suchoň’s folk-song inspired choral pieces. Under the baton of the renowned contemporary music expert from Hungary Zsolt Nagy, the orchestra will rehearse a world premiere of the Parallel Phobias by Martin Burlas the composition of which had been supported by the Slovak Arts Council. Thanks to continuing cooperation with the Albrechtina Civil Foundation, the audience in the Slovak Radio Building will also hear within the current season the works by Ernő Dohnányi and Franz Schmidt, natives of Bratislava and internationally renowned artists whose music had for a long time been omitted in Slovakia.
The dramaturgical ambition was to include into the programme also the works by established contemporary authors, as the Slovak music scene has been lacking those pieces. Many of them will be premiered (Transfigurazioni by András Szőllősy, Clarinet Concerto by Magnus Lindberg, Three Studies from Couperin by Thomas Adés). We are very grateful that many reputable personalities in the field of conducting (such as Petr Altrichter, Daniel Raiskin, Alain Paris or Kevin Griffiths) continue to be interested in cooperating with SOSR and we believe the programme of the current season has the potential to impress both experts and music keen public who may look forward to enjoying attractive repertoire titles (Dvořák’s Symphony No 9. “From the New World”, Chopin’s Piano Concerto, Elgar’s Violoncello Concerto, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and the 4th Symphony and Prokofiev’s Suite from Romeo and Juliet)
We may also include into this category the Christmas Concert with the well-known Slovak tenor Miroslav Dvorský, a concert featuring film music, as well as the musically attractive (and within the context of radio concerts also innovative) Carmen project featuring the Slovak Dance Theatre under direction of Ján Ďurovčík and under the baton of chief-conductor Peter Valentovič. After the success of young audience targeted cycle of concerts (Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet) the programme of the season will also offer to the listeners two projects, focusing on the “future visitors of concert halls”: The Story of Music by Gabriel Rovňák and Prokofiev´s piece Peter and the Wolf with charismatic Robert Roth in the role of narrator. The list of activities of the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra in the 2018/2019 season also includes recording for the prestigious British Decca label and performances at the New Music Festival (premieres of pieces by Lukáš Borzík and Ľuboš Bernáth) and Allegretto Festival to be given under the baton of Peter Valentovič as chief-conductor. The selected concerts are dedicated to prominent Slovak conductors whose names are inherently associated with the history of SOSR.
 
Andrej Šuba
Programme adviser