Slanický Island attracts tourists
The Slanica transports visitors to Slanický Island.
photo: TASR
Nearly 29,300 tourists visited the Slanický Island of Arts on the Orava dam close to Námestovo during its four-month season this year. "This is 3,540 more than came during the previous year," Eva Ľuptáková, the director of the Orava Gallery in Dolný Kubín, told the SITA news wire.
She ascribed the increased interest to the acquisition of a new vessel, the Slanica, which cost Sk10 million and holds 80 passengers. The ship started to bring tourists to the island at the beginning of the tourist season, in May. Another ship, one from the North Slovakia Camion shipping company in Dolný Kubín, also transports tourists to the island, where just a hill with a baroque church and calvary remain. It is the last of five villages flooded during the construction of the dam. Nowadays, the Orava Gallery uses the church as an exhibition space. During the summer, the church hosts classical music concerts. The new season on the island will start on May 15, 2007.
The Prodigy concert sold out
TICKETS for the Electronic Beats Live Special music festival have already sold out. The festival on October 27 will feature legendary band The Prodigy and DJ Carl Craig. Due to extremely high interest in tickets, the festival has already relocated from the PKO to the D hall of Incheba, which is on the opposite bank of the Danube. Additional tickets sold out in two days.
Apart from Live Special in Bratislava, two other festivals from the electronic beats series will take place in Vienna and Prague. Groove Armada Soundsystem will be the main star of the Vienna event on October 25, while The Prodigy will headline the festival in Prague on October 28.
Slovak theatre ensembles in Vienna
THE BRETT Theatre in Vienna hosted Slovak theatres for the first time within the Slovak Theatre Carousel - Mitteleuropäisches Theaterkarussel - Slowakei between October 10 and 21. The festival was the result of a long cooperation between the Theatre Institute in Bratislava and Theatre Brett, and was the most complex presentation of contemporary Slovak drama arts ever presented in Austria, Romana Mality from the Theatre Institute told the SITA news wire. Apart from performances by prominent Slovak drama ensembles, the program also offered scenic readings, an exhibition and a discussion.
Viennese had the chance to visit performances by the Alexander Duchnovič Theatre from Prešov, the Old Theatre from Nitra and the Theatre from the Passage from Banská Bystrica. Bratislava was represented by the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (VŠMU), GunaGU, Astorka Korzo '90, and the SND Ballet.
Poets gathered in Bratislava
Ars Poetica, the largest international literary festival in Slovakia, took place in the A4 Club on Bratislava's SNP Square between October 11 and 18.
The event featured Slovak and foreign authors reading from their work, as well as concerts, movie screenings, discussions and informal meetings. Ciaran Carson from Great Britain started things off with a creative workshop on October 11. The first evening of the festival was dedicated to British poetry, featuring authors Brian Johnstone, Ken Cockburn, Leontia Flynn, Paul Grattan and Ciaran Carson. Slovak publishing houses were introduced on October 12, followed by a lecture on British poetry by Rod Mengham.
The programme included two workshops for translators, held by Rod Mengham from Britain and Ján Buzássy from Slovakia. On Friday, October 13, an international round-table discussion on publishing and translation of poetry took place in Budmerice, attended by Elisa Biagini, Joachim Dvořák, Darek Foks, Sylvia Geist, Rod Mengham, Ivica Prtenjaća and Marc Woodworth. This picturesque village provides writers and poets with a manor where they stay and be completely dedicated to creating.
By Jana Liptáková
