Current culture tips for around Slovakia.
Fertile Land of Juliana Mrvová
This week, Galerie Kaple, in Valašské Meziříčí, Czechia, opened an exhibition featuring the work of Slovak visual artist Juliana Mrvová. She specializes in painting plants and animals, drawing inspiration from the tradition of scientific documentary illustration. Curated by the internationally-acclaimed Gabriela Garlatyová, the show presents large-scale hanging paintings and a spacious installation, as well as the artist’s latest drawings and texts. The exhibition’s title is inspired by the region where Mrvová currently lives and works—the central Slovak area of Hont, known for its orchards and gardens. The exhibition focuses on the garden and orchard as symbols of sustainability, fertility, growth, propagation, and juiciness.
What’s Slovak at Karlovy Vary?
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will take place this year from July 4 to 12 in Czechia. Celebrating its 59th edition, the festival will showcase thirteen Slovak films and Slovak co-productions, with three screened in competition sections. Among them is the animated short I Died in Irpin, which recently won the Best Animation Award at the prestigious Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and will represent Slovakia at the Oscars.
The festival will also feature Time is Short and the Water is Rising (1997) by renowned Slovak alternative music icon Dežo Ursiny and director Ivo Brachtl, marking the 30th anniversary of Ursiny’s passing, in the “Returns to the Springs” section. Slovakia will further be represented in the Industry program dedicated to film professionals.
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is the largest film festival in Czechia and the most prestigious in Central and Eastern Europe. It is one of the oldest A-list film festivals—non-specialized festivals with a competition for feature-length fiction films—a category it shares with Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Locarno, San Sebastian, Montreal, Shanghai, and Tokyo.
Big Names of Contemporary Classical Music at Slovak Radio
On Friday, July 4, Bratislava will host the premiere of a new piano concerto based on Philip Glass’s music for the film Mishima. As part of the Viva Musica! festival, the piece will be performed by the exceptional Japanese pianist Maki Namekawa, to whom Glass dedicated the work. The Brno Philharmonic, conducted by its chief conductor Dennis Russell Davies, will also perform the monumental Symphony in F-sharp, Op. 40—the only symphony by Austro-American composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold, a native of Brno. The concert will take place in the large concert hall of Slovak Radio.
On Tuesday, July 8, the Slovak Radio concert hall will host a concert by the Jess Gillam Ensemble, featuring the youngest soloist ever to perform at the Last Night of the BBC Proms. Meanwhile, on Saturday, July 5, the Viva Musica! festival will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Moyzes Quartet with an open-air concert in the garden of the Albrecht House in downtown Bratislava.
Slovak Chamber Orchestra Celebrates Cyril and Methodius in Nitra and Terchová
The Slovak Chamber Orchestra, led by conductor Ewald Danhel, will team up with Moravian group Jiří Pavlica & Hradišťan for a concert in Nitra on July 5, 2025. Their show is inspired by the legacy of Saints Cyril and Methodius and the rich culture of Great Moravia. They’ll perform the same concert again on Sunday, July 6, at the Diocesan Sanctuary of Saints Cyril and Methodius during the Cyril and Methodius Days in Terchová.
