Slavo Solovic (MUSIC & VIOLA)
Slavo Solovic began his career as a professionally trained violinist. Slavo, from Bratislava, Slovakia, (born in 1974), is now involved in a wide range of areas in the music profession, from classical music compositions, (he has composed five operas), through to writing the musical scores for many film, television serials and theatre productions. He has been recognized as one of the top music producers in Europe working for labels such as Universal Music, Sony MBG, Forsa ... And collaborated with these prestigious names to create a number of award winning tracks, CDs and albums. He has also has been a part of the chief musical team for the highly acclaimed 'Creative Music House Agency' for Czech and Slovakia. As a Senior Music director for Walt Disney & Pixar company movies In Slovakia, he works to the high musical standards required by such internationally renowned companies. He regularly collaborates with domestic production agencies such as Vivamusica, Pohodafestival, Konvergencie. As a musician he has been granted 'The Distinguished Talent Visa Australia.'
Viliam Klimáček (LIBRETTO)
Viliam Klimáček is a theatre director and theatre author. In 1985 he co-founded the GUnaGU Theatre in Bratislava which was one of the most important alternative theatres in Slovakia in the 1990s. Since its establishment the theatre has presented more than 60 original plays and projects reflecting the human experience and Slovak reality. He works in the theatre as its artistic head, director, writer and actor. A number of Klimáček‘s plays won prizes at home and abroad – he is a seven-time holder of the Prize of the Alfréd Radok Foundation, and a two-time laureate of the DRAMA competition of best Slovak drama. Since 1993, he has worked as a freelance writer and manager of the GUnaGU Theatre. His extensive dramatic work makes him one of the most prolific playwrights in Slovakia, and many of his plays were staged on Slovak as well as international stages. The Bratislava-based Arena Theatre commissioned him to write the play The Holocaust. After Communism it was his second play written for The Arena Theatre.
Gustáv Beláček (HAYDN - BASS)
The Slovak Bass Gustáv Beláček graduated at the Bratislava Academy of Music with Professor Eva Blahova, continued his studies at the Mozart Academy in Prague, with Carlo Bergonzi in Italy, and in Germany with Helmut Rilling and Wolfgang Schone at the International Bach Academy in Stuttgart. He was a prize winner at the Siena- Rocca delle Macie International Opera Competition, absolute winner at the Karlovy Vary International Dvorak Competition and Opernwelt Prize at the Belvedere Singing Competition. Mr. Gustav Belacek has been engaged by major opera houses throughout Europe, including the Grand Theatre de Geneve, the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Theatre du Rhin in Strasbourg, and the Vienna Kammeroper, the Prague National Theatre, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf, the Janacek Opera in Brno, the Prague State Opera, the Graz Opera, the Badisches Staatstheatre in Karlsruhe, the Maggio Fiorentino Firenze, the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Royal Opera in Copenhagen then by the Nagoya Opera in Japan and the Palacio das Artes in Belo Horizonte-Brazil. In North America he sang the Commendatore (Don Giovanni) at the Berkshire Opera Festival and with the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto most successfully the roles of Don Profondo in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims, the Pimen in Boris Godunov, and the Mustafa in L’Italiana in Algeri. He is a soloist at the Slovak National Opera Theatre where he has been heard as Dulcamara in L’ Elisir d’Amore, Figaro in Mozart´s Le Nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni, in the title role in Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle, the Ramfis in Aida, the Water Gnome in Dvorák’s Rusalka, the Gremin in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and the Pimen in Musorgsky Boris Godunow. As concert singer he performed in many Festivals like Prague Spring, Bratislava Music Festival, Festival zu Ostern Luzern, Rheingau Music Festival Wiesbaden, BBC Proms and he sang in concert halls like Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, Conservatorio de Bruxelles, La Sapienza University in Rome, Royal Albert Hal London , Concertgebouwn Amsterdam, Großes Festspielhaus Salzburg. Gustav Belacek performs with orchestras like Bruckner Orchester Linz, Dresdner Philharmony, Berliner Symphoniker, L´orchestre National de France, Radio- Symphonieorchester Wien, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks Munich, London Philharmony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Camerata New York, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony under conducting Sir Carles Mackerras, Charles Dutoit, James Judd, Serge Baudo, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Andras Lighetti, Libor Pesek, Vladimir Valek, Jiri Belohlavek, Dennis Russel Davies, Alberto Zedda, Marris Jansons, Yuri Temirkanov, Kurt Masur, Seiji Ozawa and many others. He is a regular guest in the Slovak and the Czech Philharmony and in the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Belacek records with Opus, Supraphon, Slovart, BBC, Mezzo Mezzo, Delos and Naxos. In 2007 was released a live CD from London PROMS with Glagolitic Mass by Janacek, the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Kurt Masur. In 2008 a CD of Duke Bluebeard´s Castle by NAXOS, the Bournemouth Symphony conducted by Marin Alsop and in 2010 a new CD of Requiem by D. Cimarosa conducted by Kirk Trevor also by NAXOS. The CD of Dvorák’s Requiem with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra under Zdenek Mácal, which was released by Delos, was honoured with a Grammy Award. In 2008 Mr. Belacek was honored with inter. Gabardi Premio in Milan.
Eva Šušková (SERVANT - SOPRANO)
Slovak soprano Eva Šušková studied singing at the Church Conservatoire and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (V. Stracenská) where she succesfully defended her PhD with Peter Mikuláš. She has taken part in master classes and performance courses in Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic under Rosemary Hardy, Sonia Ghazarian and Peter Dvorský. Winner of the international singing contest Iuventus Canti (2006) and laureate of the Best French Music Interpretation Prize at ISA Prague-Vienna-Budapest (2007), Eva has emerged as a leading personality of chamber and concert music life, at the same time dedicating herself to opera. She has performed important roles such as Tatyana, Desdemona, Rusalka, Suzel, Khivrya and Fiordiligi, in opera houses both in Slovakia and abroad (Estates Theatre Prague, State Opera Budapest, Opera Saint-Étienne, Theatre Impérial Compiegne). She also worked on the staging and recording of the reconstructed opera of Hummel’s, Mathilde de Guise, a unique performance on historical instruments. She has taken part in the Czech premiere of Into the Little Hill by George Benjamin, as well as in the premieres of seven original Slovak operas by J. Beneš, V Kubička and S. Solovic, which she performed at various theatre festivals in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland.
Matúš Šimko (MOZART - TENOR)
has studied music at the Conservatory of J.L. Bella in Banská Bystrica with Mgr. Stanislav Matis and later in the class of prof. Gloria Banditelli at Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali G. Briccialdi in Terni, Italy. He also achieved Masters Degree in Law at the University of Matej Bel in Basnká Bystrica, Slovakia. Currenty he continues in his vocal studies priavtely with Prof. Vlasta Hudecová. He worked with ensembles such as: Solamente Naturali, Musica Florea, Il Cuore Barocco, Elbipolis Barockorchester Hamburg, Ensemble Diderot, Quasars Ensemble, Slovak Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of State Opera Banská Bystrica, Czech Virtuosi. In 2015 he made debut at the Bratislava Music Festival and Melos-Éthos International Festival for Contemporary Music. He was also selected to perform at the Nobel Peace Price Award Ceremony 2011 in Oslo, Norway.
Andrea Vizvári (ARTEMIS - SOPRANO)
Andrea Vizvári, soprano, studied opera performance under the guidance of Dagmar Bezačinská-Podkamenská at the State Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts, both in Bratislava. Her achievements include being selected for a three-month educational stay at the Detmold Theatre in Germany and master classes by Sonja Ghazarian, Peter Dvorský and Zlatica Livorová. She also placed well at several domestic and international singing competitions. Ms. Vizvári has given highly succesful concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Musikverein in Vienna, the National Concert Hall in Dublin, and a gala concert at the Lyric Opera in Montreal. As well as concert tours in Ireland, Holland, the United States, Hungary and Poland, she has also apperead in Slovakia with the State Chamber Orchestra of Žilina /open-air concerts in Trenčín/, and with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, /Mozart´s Requiem, and Schubert´s Mass G major/. Andrea´s other artistic activities include performances with the Prague Chamber Philharmonic at the Janacek Festival in Ostrava /Martinu´s Kytice/, with the Košice Philharmonic, /Mozart´s – Requiem/, and with the Musica Aeterna ensemble /a concert performance of the opera La serva padrona/.
S O L O Q U A R T E T
Vladimíra Ščigulinská
(VIOLINO)
Milan Adamec
(VIOLINO)
Magdaléna Izakovičová
(VIOLONCELLO)
Branko Ladič
(HARPSICHORD, PIANO)
Maja Hriešik (STAGE DIRECTOR)
Maja Hriešik (1978). Stage director, dramaturge and theoretician. She was born in Novi Sad, Serbia. From 1997 lives and works in Slovakia. She finished MA studies of Aesthetics at Philosophic Faculty in Bratislava, MA in theatre directing and PhD in theatre theory at Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. She teaches at Dance Department and cooperates with Slovak television as director and creative producer. As a stage director she has cooperated with numerous music festivals as well as independent companies and staged mainly chamber works of 20th and 21st century (Schoenberg´s Pierrot Lunnaire, 2013; Hosokawa´s Raven,2015.
Zuzu Hudek (SCENE DESIGN)
was born in 1981 in Bratislava. In the year 2005 she obtained the Master of Arts Degree after 5 years studying at Academy of Music and Performing Arts, major Stage and Costume Design in Bratislava. During the study she was awarded for a scholarship from the Ministry of Education of Slovak Republic to spend two semesters at Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in Poland. In between she worked as a stage and costume designer for several projects In Slovakia or abroad. In years 2005/2007 she was following the MFA Scenography program at Frank Mohr Institute in Groningen. In October 2006 she won the Vrijkaart of the Jonge Harten Festival and consequently realized the project “15minmum” in Kruithuis in Groningen. In summer 2007 she obtained Master of Fine Arts degree with the end exam project ANDEND performed in Grand Theatre, Groningen. In the years 2009-2011 she cooperated with the Slovak Theatre Institute on the european project Platform 11+ focused on theatre specialy created for youngsters (www.platform11plus.eu). At the moment she works as an art teacher and freelance set and costume designer. Lately she directed her own visual performance “TRI-ŠTYRI OPICE“ granted by the platform „Mliečne Zuby“ supporting young theatre artists. At this moment she is establishing her own theatre group Equiteatro.
Šimon Horna – (VIDEOART)