Slovak chamber orchestra Bohdan Warchal

Slovak chamber orchestra Bohdan Warchal

In 1960 the Slovak Chamber Orchestra was established by the outstanding violinist of Silesian origin, Bohdan Warchal (1930-2000). Since the beginning of its existence it has been one of the most popular ensembles of classical music in Slovakia. Under the leadership of maestro Warchal it became one of the most prominent representatives of Slovak performing art abroad, praised mainly for its meticulous phrasing and gentle sound colour.

Music from the Baroque period used to form the main repertoire of the ensemble, later also including music from the 19th and 20th centuries and many first performances of Slovak and foreign composers.

The Slovak Chamber Orchestra has participated in many important festivals – Festival de Musique de Strassbourg, Salzburger Festspiele, Festival de Musique Montreux – Vevey, Budapesti Zenei Hetek, Prague Spring and others.
They have toured Europe, North and South America, Australia and Asia. Leading performers – Vladimir Spivakov, Taba Zimmerman, Miklós Perenyi, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Cyprien Katsaris, Jean Pierre Rampal, Michala Petri, Heinz Holliger, Peter Schreier, François Leleux, František Herman, Bernard Soustrot, Guy Touvron etc. have co-operated with them. The ensemble has made more than 100 recordings from different musical periods for local and foreign record companies.

Bohdan Warchal as Artistic Leader, led the orchestra for more than 40 years. At the 40th anniversary celebratory concert of the ensemble he expressed the wish that the Silesian-born Ewald Danel, who has been the Artistic Leader since January 2001, should be his successor. The repertoire of the rejuvenated ensemble has moved slightly towards Romanticism and the music of the 20th century.

Apart from regular concerts at the Slovak Philharmonic and participation in festivals and concert tours abroad, the orchestra presents many exceptionally interesting projects, like the first Slovak rendition of the complete Bach`s Brandenburg Concerts and the Orchestral Suites. They gradually introduced all Concerti Grossi of Georg Friedrich Händel, Arcangelo Corelli and the rare set of string symphonies of the young F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Apart from this they have performed special concerts for the anniversaries of composers, like Hommage a Bach, Dvořák, Mozart, Shostakovich, Suchoň.
Every year the orchestra commemorates the exceptional contribution made by its founder in a special concert, Hommage a Bohdan Warchal. The orchestra has discovered many works of famous composers for the Slovak public which have been up-tonow unplayed in Slovakia. Since 2001 the ensemble has premiered the works of more than 40 Slovak composers, hereby contributing greatly to the presentation of Slovak musical creation.
For its 50th anniversary the orchestra recorded a CD with Serenades by A. Dvořák and J. Suk, which have been part of the basic repertoire of the Slovak Chamber Orchestra since the start of its existence. The orchestra performed at music festivals in the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Poland and the Musikverein in Vienna. A rare performance was held at the Pohoda festival, where they played Vivaldi´s Four Seasons. As part of its regular subscription concerts the orchestra, together with its Artistic Director, performed the Slovak premiere of The Four Seasons by Astor Piazolla and also upheld the old Bratislava tradition of performing Haydn´s Seven Last Words on the Cross in the St. Martin´s Cathedral on Palm Sunday. The new cycle called Music in Temples has concluded by an exceptionally successful performance of Händel´s Messiah oratorium. After immensely positive response from the public the work was performed again the next season.