The year of 2020 marks new beginnings for all. Step into the next decade with a New Year’s resolution of travelling outside Bratislava more often to get to know Slovaks and their regions through different events.
- CONCERT: New Year’s Day Concert, Jan 1, The State Philharmonic, Košice
- CLIMB: Together up to Minčol, Jan 4, TAU Social Services House, Turie
- RUN: Košice Epiphany Run, Jan 6, Main Street, Košice
- EXHIBITION: Acquisitions – 2019, until Jan 19, Ján Koniarek Gallery, Trnava
- FAMILY: Tatry Ice Master 2020, Jan 18-19, ski resort Hrebienok, S. Smokovec
- CINEMA: Antarctica, Jan 22, cinema HVIEZDA, Trnava
- PARTY: Let It Snow, Jan 24-25, club HAPPY END, ski resort Jasná
- FOLKLORE: Across Borders, Jan 24-25, community hall, Poprad
- TRAVEL: Balloon Fiesta in the High Tatras, Jan 31-Feb 2, Veľká Lomnica
- EXHIBITION: Innocent Eyes, Weak Arm, until Jan 31, Šopa Gallery, Košice
1| New Year's Day Concert in Košice
One of the most exciting events happening on the very first day of each year are New Year’s Day concerts filled with classical music. The State Philharmonic will take its audience on a two-hour classical music journey, conducted by Zbyněk Müller. Pieces of music written by Antonín Dvořák, Bedřich Smetana, Johann Straus, and Julius Fučík, to name a few, will fill a Košice concert hall.
City: Košice
Venue: House of Arts Big Concert Hall
Date: January 1
Time: 19:00 – 21:00
Admission: €14-€20, depending on a ticket category. You can buy a ticket or make a reservation here.
2| Together up to Minčol
Those who fancy a bit of hiking after a sedentary Christmas season full of festive food can join people from Alpine Rock. They are organising a climb in the Malá Fatra mountains, central Slovakia, up to a peak called Minčol. It is 1,364 metres above sea level. Follow the Facebook event page or get in touch with Alpine Rock for more information. It is better to have a car to be able to reach hiking start at the TAU Social Services House in Turie smoothly and swiftly.
City: Žilina
Venue: TAU Social Services House in the village of Turie
Date: January 4
Time: 7:00 – 18:00
Admission: free
3| Košice Epiphany Run
In eastern Slovakia, people will be running in Košice after Christmas, on Three Kings’ Day. The run is 5,100 metres long, starting and ending on Main Street, near the Immaculata statue. Over 60s and children under 15 will run a distance of 1,100 metres. Those interested can register here or on site. Every participant will get a drink, tea, and a biscuit. More information is available on Facebook and on the website.
(Source: ATU Košice)City: Košice
Venue: Main Street (Immaculata)
Date: January 6
Time: 14:00 (a 1,100-metres run) and 15:00 (a 5,100-metres run). Registration starts from 10:00.
Admission: 5,100m - €12 (online by Jan 3) or €14 on the site; 1,100m - €6 (online by Jan 3) or €7 on the site
4| Acquisitions – 2019
(Source: Ivan Csudai)The Ján Koniarek Gallery in Trnava obtained 22 works of art in the year of 2019, including the painting We Saw You by Slovak painter Michal Černušák. The acquired artworks also include sculptures and photographs of different artists, which are exhibited until mid-January. Around the same time, a colourful and playful display by Ivan Csudai will also end.
City: Trnava
Venue: Ján Koniarek Gallery
Date: until January 19
Time: 9:00 – 17:00 and 13:00 – 18:00 (weekends)
Admission: €1.50
5| Tatry Ice Master 2020
About 20 sculptors from 10 different countries will meet on the Hrebienok ridge in the High Tatras to create 35 statues out of 50 tons of ice. Topics for 2020 are: A fairytale world through my eyes & Save our planet. Slovak singers Sima Martausová and Adam Ďurica will perform. Lots of competitions will wait for visitors over the course of two days as well. More information is available on the website or Facebook.
City: Starý Smokovec
Venue: ski resort Hrebienok
Date: January 18-19
Time: all day
Admission: Starý Smokovec cable-car ticket of €9-€11. You can buy the ticket here.
6| Antarctica
Globetrotter Martin Navrátil got on a 100-year-old sailing boat and spent 52 days on it to reach Antarctica, a polar desert not many have visited. The film screened in Trnava will reveal also information about Tristan da Cunha, the world’s most remote inhabited archipelago, and South Georgia, one of the most visited spots of the polar continent. How easy is it to get to Antarctica, and how much does it cost? Navrátil will unveil these answers and more this January.
City: Trnava
Venue: cinema HVIEZDA
Date: January 22
Time: 20:00 – 22:00
Admission: €4. You can buy a ticket here.
(Source: Martin Navrátil)7| Let It Snow
A two-day music festival in the Slovak mountains is back for January 2020. Enjoy house and techno music on Friday and drum & bass sounds the next day while snowboarding or skiing in the ski resort Jasná, located in the Low Tatras. Click here to find out more on the line-up.
City: Liptovský Mikuláš
Venue: club HAPPY END in the ski resort Jasná
Date: January 24-25
Time: 14:00 on Jan 24 – 6:00 on Jan 26
Admission: €20.90. You can buy a ticket here.
(Source: III Trident.sk)8| Across Borders
The folk ensemble Vagonár Poprad, established in 1972 in the eastern Slovakian town of Poprad, promotes folk culture of the Spiš and Tatras Regions. However, Vagonár will look into folk culture of areas and settlements neighbouring those regions to point out similarities and differences through a musical and dance performance. The ensemble will take on villages from the Spiš, Šariš, Horehronie, and Liptov Regions.
City: Poprad
Venue: community hall
Date: January 24-25
Time: 19:00
Admission: €9-€12. You can purchase a ticket here.
9| Balloon Fiesta in the High Tatras
Have you ever flown in a hot air balloon? If not, a balloon festival returns to the village of Veľká Lomnica in the High Tatras. Come explore Slovakia’s majestic mountains from above before winter is gone. Follow the Facebook event page or the official website for more information.
City: Veľká Lomnica
Date: January 31 – February 2
Time: all day (depending on weather conditions)
Admission: €130. Buy tickets here.
10| Innocent Eyes, Weak Arm
Works of young Polish artists Emilia Kina and Filip Rybkowski are on display in Košice. The effort of the two is to map the struggle of images for people’s attention. By examining the relationship between the eye and the hand, they analyse the relationship between vision and action. They focus on the question of the impact of images and their role in building a vision between the image of the past and thinking about the future.
City: Košice
Venue: Šopa Gallery
Date: until January 31
Time: 16:00 – 18:00 (only weekdays)
Admission: free
(Source: Šopa Gallery)
30. Dec 2019 at 11:39 | Compiled by Spectator staff
