Central European Festival of Concert Art in Žilina

The Central European Music Festival is an international classical music festival which has been held annually since 1991 in Žilina. It is a showcase of leading talents in classical interpretive art from Slovakia and other European countries, mostly the Central European region. It provides room for sharing cultural values and confronting the interpretive skills of prominent young artists from Europe. Participants include top young artists – winners or laureates of renowned international interpretive contests – including instrumentalists, vocal artists, conductors and small chamber ensembles of musicians aged up to 32, or 35 years, who have achieved major success within the past five years. They present themselves in the festival in recitals or to the accompaniment of distinguished orchestras from Slovakia and neighbouring countries. An international jury drawn mostly from musicologists and music critics, particularly from Central European countries, evaluates their performance. It rewards the most distinctive artistic performance of the festival with the Music Critics´ Award. The award’s recipient gets a chance to perform at the following year's festival. The festival offers opportunities for music teachers, musicologists, music critics, representatives of agencies and cultural institutions, and foreign guests to meet. The Music Centre is the main organiser of the festival at the authorisation of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic. The Slovak Sinfonietta Žilina, on whose grounds the festival takes place, is the main partner of the festival.