Dušan Štefánek

Bratislava native Dušan Štefánek studied piano and conducting at the Conservatory in his hometown. Here, under Prof. Vykydal, he acquired perfect conducting technique and a lifelong love of stage music – opera, operetta and ballet. He continued his studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava in the class of Bystrík Režuch and Ladislav Slovák. During his studies, he completed a master class with Sergio Celibidache. In 1983, he became conductor of the State Theatre Opera in Košice, and from 1985 to the present he has been working at the Slovak National Theatre Opera. In the early 1990s, he was chief conductor of the State Opera in Banská Bystrica. He collaborated with the Slovak Philharmonic, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and the State Philharmonic in Košice. He has been a guest at the National Theatre in Prague and at the Janáček Opera in Brno. He has performed successfully abroad with the opera and ballet ensemble of the Slovak National Theatre. His opera repertoire includes several dozen titles, several of which he has also musically staged: Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea, Cikker's Resurrection, Leoncavallo's The Comedians and Mascagni's Peasant Honour, Donizetti's The Elixir of Love, Bizet's Carmen, Rossini's Cinderella and Janáček's Káťa Kabanova. His experience with ballet equally extensive. Since 2008, he has been the chief conductor of the State Theatre in Košice (among other productions, he has staged Verdi's Un ballo in masquerade). He is currently the chief conductor of the Slovak National Theatre ballet and the musical guarantor of the Opera Studio. In addition to his artistic activities, he is also involved in pedagogical work.

His collaboration with the Metropolitan Orchestra Bratislava has lasted for more than a decade. The orchestra values his musical professionalism and approach to work full of optimism and good humour, which he also shared with audiences. As the best Slovak expert in the MOB’s specialist genres, he has been the artistic director and chief conductor since 2022.