The Musica Danubiana project was born as a sort of antidote to the large-scale international ISCM festival. Of course, the ISCM festival was a prestigious festival which attracted all the ears, eyes and hard work. Central European countries were often poorly represented (the method for choosing compositions for the festival’s programme was not always the same; today, each member section can be sure that at least one of the works submitted will be played at the festival), and so the idea of a smaller festival was born, where music from the countries crossed by the Danube would be given space, and the festival would take place every year in a different participating country. It was held for the first time in 1996 in Budapest. In Slovakia, the project took place from 1997 to 2003 in the form of a concert as part of the Melos-Ethos festival, and in 2005 as part of the Evenings of New Music festival. Among other music, it included the successful premieres of Beneš’ composition Haiku and Bázlik’s Apparition d’après Stéphane Mallarmé.
~ Irena Lányiová