The Slovak Philharmonic Choir was established in Slovakia in 1946 as the Bratislava Radio Mixed Choir. Ladislav Slovák, the choir’s originator and founder, became chorus-master in the initial period, succeeded in 1955 by Jan Maria Dobrodinsky, who led the choir for more than twenty years, doing much towards the achievement of the choir’s high professional quality. In 1957 the choir was incorporated in the association of the ensembles of the Slovak Philharmonic. Valentin Iljin followed in 1976 as chorus-master, succeeded in turn by Lubomír Mátl, Štefan Klimo, Pavol Baxa, Pavol Procházka, and Marián Vach. From 1991 to 2001 Blanka Juhaňáková, in collaboration with Jan Rozehnal, the principal chorus-master until 2003, when Marián Vach assumed responsibility, continued the tradition of enhancing the choir’s performing skills. Since 2005 Blanka Juhaňáková has directed the choir, with Jozef Chabroň as Assistant from 2006.
Half a century of intensive artistic activity has made the Slovak Philharmonic Choir an ensemble of outstanding quality, one of the leading such ensembles in Europe. There have been collaborations with many world-famous conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Jean Claude Casadesus, James Conlon, Dean Dixon, János Ferencsik, Riccardo Chailly, Zdenik Košler, Ondrej Lenárd, Alain Lombard, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Antonio Pedrotti, Libor Pešek, Ludivít Rajter, Karl Richter, Pinchas Steinberg, Hans Swarowsky, Václav Talich, and Christoph von Dohnányi.
In addition to performances at home the choir has appeared in most European countries, as well as in Morocco, Turkey, and Japan. There has been collaboration with many renowned international symphony orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, London Philharmonic, and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras, and the Orchestre de Paris. The Slovak Philharmonic Choir has also appeared at important international music festivals, including those of Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, Perugia, Edinburgh, Berlin, Athens, Madrid, Paris, and Munich. There have been many recordings for Slovak and international television and radio stations, as well as for leading record companies, including Opus, Supraphon (Liszt’s The Legend of St Elizabeth – 1974 Paris Grand Prix du Disque award), Deutsche Grammophon, Hungaroton, Sony, Marco Polo, Naxos, Nuova Era, and Decca.
