Ján Cikker remembered

SLOVAKIA has just a few classical-music composers who are internationally renowned, and Ján Cikker is one of them. Apart from his own works, he also adapted and arranged folk songs (including the Slovak national anthem, which was originally a popular folk tune with neutral lyrics), worked as a repertory advisor to the Slovak National Theatre, and taught at the Conservatory and Music Academy in Bratislava. This year, the country commemorates his 100th anniversary with a host of events and programmes.

The Visegrad Group (which includes the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland as well as Slovakia) has joined forces to bring the works of four renowned composers and musicians who have (or had) their anniversaries this year (last year, in the case of Chopin): the Hungarian Franz Liszt (200th anniversary), the Czech Antonín Dvořák (170th anniversary), Pole Fryderyk Chopin (200th anniversary in 2010) and Slovakia’s Cikker.

On March 23 a concert was organised as a tribute to Cikker within the Visegrad Jubilee project in the Hall of Mirrors in Bratislava’s Primatial Palace. Apart from the musical homage, the Ján Cikker Award was given this year to Professor Rudolf Macudzinski, a composer, musician, and teacher of piano and composition, who was a big promoter of Cikker’s work. Macudzinski’s son Silvio accepted the award on behalf of his father who died in 1986. The pieces played by the Slovak Chamber Orchestra of Bohdan Warchal on this occasion included works of Ilja Zeljenka, Antonín Dvořák, and - of course - Ján Cikker. Peter Michalica played violin and Ján Hajnal piano.

The Ján Cikker Foundation – which also operates the Ján Cikker Museum – has planned numerous nationwide events for the whole of 2011 in connection with this outstanding musical personality.