Slovak radio symphony orchestra was founded in 1929 as the first professional ensemble catering for the needs of radio broadcasting in Slovakia. Since its inception, its programming has laid emphasis on music by contemporary Slovak composers, including works the modernists Alexander Moyzes, Eugene Suchon and Ján Cikker. Originally a small-size ensemble, it has been gradually expanded and in 1942, thanks to the efforts of the Director of Music in Slovak Radio, Alexander Moyzes, it launched regular series of concerts on the air.
In the 1940s, the artistic standards of the orchestra were raised tangibly by the young Yugoslav conductor, Krešimír Baranovič, who served as its Music Director in 1943–46. His successors have included Ľudovít Rajter, Ladislav Slovák, Václav Jiráček, Otakar Trhlík, Bystrík Režucha and Ondrej Lenárd. During Lenárd’s long period with the orchestra (1977–90), the successful performances and recordings helped the ensemble to establish itself as an internationally-renowned orchestra. His successor, Róbert Stankovský, continued this development but after several seasons his promising career was cut short by his
unexpected death at the age of 36.
The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra has worked with many prominent conductors including Karel Ančerl and Václav Smetáček in past decades, and more recently Andrew Mogrelia, Michel Legrand, John Scott, Tomáš Koutník, Niels Muus, Marco de Prosperis, Kirk Trevor, Oliver von Dohnányi, Stanislav Macura, Allan Wilson, Nicholas Dodd, Chihiro Hayashi and Ivan Anguélov. They have all contributed to the orchestra’s growing stature. In 2001–03 the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra was directed by Charles Olivieri-Munroe. At present the ensemble performs under its Principal Guest Conductor Kirk Trevor, attracting full houses to its splendid 530-seat concert hall, which was built in the 1980s in Slovak Radio’s Broadcasting House.
Thanks to its broadcasts and the popularity of its cd recordings (for such labels as Opus, Supraphon, Naxos, Marco Polo, Arte Nova, emi and Albany), as well as recordings for film, the orchestra has established a prominent position for itself in the international music circuit. Foreign tours have taken it recently to France, Bulgaria, Spain, Japan, Great Britain and Malta. It has performed with such renowned soloists as José Carreras, Peter Dvorský, Sherill Milnes, Eva Márton, Franco Bonisolli, Robert Dean-Smith, John Treleaven, Thorsten Kerl, Susan Anthony, Sergej Larin, Elena Obraztsova,Václav Hudeček, Richard Stolzman, Ray Charles and Lisa Minelli. The repertoire of the orchestra focuses on Romantic music and works by 20th and 21st-century composers.