An important part of the World Music Festival Bratislava is an international conference with foreign and Slovak speakers. The conference is intended for musicians and professionals from the music industry. Seminars and panel discussions on current topics are part of it every year. It offers a unique opportunity to personally meet and discuss with interesting experts, promoters and journalists from abroad.

CONFERENCE AT WMFB 2023

Presentation of the publishing activity of the Music Center

19.8. 2023 – 10:00 a.m. – Teatro Colorato

One of the main missions of the Music Center (Hudobné centrum) since its establishment in 1997 has been publishing activities in the field of Slovak musical culture. The current edition of the catalog contains over 80 books, 120 sheet music and 40 discography titles. Although most of them are focused on the field of classical music, there are also publications dedicated to folk music culture: after all, folk music has always been an extremely powerful source of inspiration in Slovak classical music. The editor of the publishing department of the Music Center, Ivan Koska, will present nine published titles in more detail, which contribute to the mapping and knowledge of Slovak musical folklore.

Interview with the author of the work Bartók and Slovakia, p. Vladimir Godár

19/8/2023 – 10:20 – Teatro Colorato

Undoubtedly, the most significant publishing achievements of recent years are two titles related to the exceptional personality of Béla Bartók, a composer extremely active in the field of folk music research, his monumental four-volume collection Slovak Folk Songs and the collection of Bartók and Slovakia studies. Their editor is WMFB guest Vladimír Godár, head of the Music Centre editorial department, who will reveal the story of their creation and their historical context in the subsequent interview.

ANNOUNCER:
Ivan Koska (SK)

Ivan Koska is a pianist who studied at the Conservatory in Italy. He is the winner of several piano competitions, such as the Premio Seiler International Piano Competition in Palermo (2001) and the Premio di Roma International Contemporary Music Interpretation Competition in Rome (2006). Since 2009, he has been working in the USA, where in 2015 he received a doctorate in piano performance at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. From 2015 to 2018, he taught piano and theory courses at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. He has given concerts primarily in Italy and the USA, but also in other European countries, Brazil and Panama. After returning to Slovakia, he has mainly devoted himself to chamber music. He is a regular partner of leading Slovak performers such as Eva Šušková, Jozef Lupták, and the Moyzes Quartet. His studies in translation led him primarily to  translate musical texts and to publishing. Since 2018, he has been working at the Music Center as an editor.

SPECIAL GUEST:
Vladimír Godár (SK)

Slovak composer, musicologist and university teacher, author of chamber, orchestral and film music (e.g., for Martin Šulík’s films). He is currently the head of the Publishing Department of the Music Center. He is the holder of two Czech Lions in the Best Music category, for the films RETURN OF THE IDIOT (1999) and SUNNY STATE OR THE HEROES OF THE WORKING CLASS (2005). He is the recipient of many prestigious awards, e.g., the Prize for music criticism (1988), the Prize of the Minister of Culture of the Slovak Republic (2006), and the SOZA Prize for significant contributions to the presentation of domestic works abroad (2011). He is an exceptional connoisseur of Slovak musical history and has contributed to the revival of many forgotten compositions and composers and their return to our concert stages. His magnum opus is Monograph Béla and Bartók and Slovakia.