Orchestras

The idea of founding a symphony orchestra in Zlín arose back in the 1920s, and the basis of the Bat’a National Enterprise Symphony Orchestra was formed shortly after the country’s liberation on 1st June 1945, The first performance of the orchestra, numbering almost fifty musicians, was conducted by Rudolf Kvasnica on 30th April 1946. In May 1950, what was now the Workers’ Philharmonic Orchestra started its first spa season in Luhačovice, and its performances for the spa guests over the five summer months set a precedent for many subsequent years. In November 1955 the Tomas Bat'a Memorial Building was repurposed as the ‘House of Arts’ for the Orchestra’s needs. Over the years the Orchestra has seen several changes of name – from the Bat’a National Enterprise Symphony Orchestra to the Workers’ Philharmonic Orchestra, then the Gottwaldov Region State Symphony Orchestra, but it was in early 1989 that it was renamed the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra.

In the past 24 years, IMK (Verein für Internationale Musik- und Kulturförderung) has entered the Vienna Musikverein Golden Hall with several orchestras to perform for the Schwingungen concert series, including Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Kazakhstan National Symphony Orchestra, Athens State Orchestra, Dubrovnik Philharmonic Orchestra, Budapest Symphony Orchestra MAV, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Symphoniker and Nürenberger Symphony. Each concert filled the Golden Hall with gorgeous music and their crystal clear music matched the shimmers of light from the chandelier. Throughout these concerts, IMK has formed many precious partnerships with several musicians, thus resulting in debut of Euro Sinfonietta Vienna organized by IMK. To ensure that the orchestra could offer the richest experience to their audience, the orchestra consists of some of the greatest musicians of Europe with Maestro Yuriy Yanko and Maestro Amaury du Closel as the main conductors. The Euro Sinfonietta Vienna currently is giving four performances in Novomatic Forum Festsaal, located in Vienna, every year; gaining more of their audience each time.

The Mozart Collegium Wien is a chamber orchestra founded in March 2004, consisting of members of the leading chamber music ensembles, the Wiener Musiklebens (Vienna Music Life). With a musical inspired vision and many years of experience, the orchestra created a unique and striking sensation in their music. Together, with the renowned chief conductor Christian Schulz, the Mozart Collegium Wien strives to present themselves to the public with variations of brilliant and colorful repertoires, such as compositions written by Mozart, masterpieces from the Viennese classical period, as well as contemporary music. Each individual within the orchestra, through the quality and skills of solo musicians as their member, creates extraordinary sound and atmosphere. Most importantly, the Mozart Collegium Wien contains flexible string sections, thus able to make an ideal balance between winds and string to create full dynamic and strength on the stage. Since 2006, the Mozart Collegium Wien has experience in concerts in Europe and Asia.

The Savaria Symphony Orchestra has become one of the most significant representatives of Hungarian music in the past few years. Its repertoire includes classical and romantic compositions and music from the 20th century. Besides performing as a symphony orchestra, the musicians of the ensemble frequently feature at opera galas of very high artistic standard. The orchestra regularly performs at various Hungarian and international festivals including the Szombathely Spring Festival, the Pannon Autumn, the Sopron Festive Weeks, and the International Bartók Festival and Seminar. For its outstanding quality of work, the orchestra received the Béla Bartók-Ditta Pásztory Award in 1990.

The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (SOSR) was established in 1929 as the first professional symphony orchestra in Slovakia. The Czech conductor František Dyk was then appointed to be the official leader of the Orchestra. Since 2018 the orchestra is led by chief conductor Peter Valentovic. SOSR being the first professional symphonic ensemble in Slovakia has a history of almost ninety years of remarkable activities. Many excellent soloists from Slovakia and abroad have already performed with the Orchestra including Anna Netrebko, Yusif Eyvazov, Boris Berezovskij, Edita Gruberová, Adriana Kučerová, Štefan Kocán, Pavol Bršlík, Daniel Ottensamer, Dana Ciocarlie, Alena Baeva, Andrey Yaroshinsky, Jiří Bárta, Milan Paľa, Dalibor Karvay, and others. The Orchestra regularly performs at music festivals in Slovakia such as the Bratislava Music Festival, New Slovak Music Festival, Melos-Étos, Allegretto Žilina or Radio_Head Awards Festival. SOSR is also welcome at concert stages abroad and appeared as a guest for instance in Austria, Germany, Hungary,

The Zagreb Festival Orchestra was founded in 1989 as a recording orchestra comprised of the top classical performers in Croatia, with the intent of recording an album for Naxos Records. Conducted by the acclaimed maestro Michael Halász, a resident conductor at the Vienna State Opera for 20 years, and produced by six-time Grammy Award winner Martin Sauer, the orchestra released OVERTURES, an album of Italian composer Gioachino Rossini's greatest operatic works. This album went on to worldwide commercial success, being featured in major Hollywood movies over the span of two decades. 30 years later, the Zagreb Festival Orchestra was reestablished by eminent American music company PARMA Recordings. The goal offers an exceptional performance ensemble available for concerts and recording sessions.