Ladislav Slovak

Ladislav Slovák was the chief conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1960s. He was especially noted as an interpreter of the music of Shostakovich, having participated in rehearsals of his symphonies with the composer present. Slovák was born on September 10, 1919, in Bratislava, then part of Czechoslovakia, and the capital of modern-day Slovakia. He grew up poor but was able to enroll in classes at a local music school and then at the Bratislava Conservatory, where he studied organ at first and then switched to conducting, studying with Kornel Schimpl, working...