Hommage a Bohdan Warchal
Every year, members of the Slovak Chamber Orchestra, led by artistic director Ewald Danel, dedicate one of their January concerts to the memory of the founder of the Slovak Chamber Orchestra, the legendary Bohdan Warchal. The concert Hommage à Bohdan Warchal will take place on Sunday, January 25, 2026, at the Concert Hall of the Slovak Philharmonic at 4 p.m.
The guests on Sunday afternoon will be two leading Czech performers – violin virtuoso Ivan Ženatý and pianist Igor Ardašev. The Sunday concert will commemorate what would have been Prof. Warchal’s 96th birthday (January 27, 1930 – December 30, 2000).
The dramaturgy of the Hommage à Bohdan Warchal concerts is revived each year from works that were part of the core repertoire of the “Warchalovci”. It is a tradition that interesting guests perform alongside the chamber orchestra at the memorial concerts. This time, there will be two Czech performers – violinist Ivan Ženatý and pianist Igor Ardašev, who will perform Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Orchestra in D minor in Bratislava.
The program will open with Cantica slovaca for string orchestra by Slovak composer, conductor, violinist, and teacher Ladislav Kupkovič, who has been working in Germany since 1969. Cantica slovaca was written in 2009, and the composer composed it in two versions – for string orchestra (2009) and string quartet (2010).
Source: Slovenská filharmónia
