MAROŠ POTOKÁR
conductor
Maroš Potokár studied violin and conducting at the Košice Conservatory. He continued his studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (VŠMU), where he studied violin under J. Kopelman and A. Jablokov, and at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno (JAMU), where he graduated conducting under R. Hališka and R. Štúr. During his studies, he also participated in a masterclass with Zsolt Nagy, a renowned conductor and professor at the Paris Conservatory.
As a conductor, he has performed with the Prague Philharmonia, Brno Philharmonic, Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra in Ostrava, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic in Zlín, Moravian Philharmonic in Olomouc, Slovak Philharmonic, State Philharmonic Košice, Slovak Sinfonietta Žilina, Slovak Youth Orchestra, S. Lunchevici National Philharmonic in Chișinău, as well as with the orchestras of the National Theatre in Prague, Slovak National Theatre, National Theatre Košice, Moravian-Silesian National Theatre in Ostrava and others.
From the 2021/2022 season, after a successful audition, he became an assistant of the chief conductor V. Sinaisky at the Janáček Philharmonic in Ostrava, where he has been involved in numerous concert projects over the past three seasons. Beside chief conductor he has also collaborated with other renowed conductors such as D. Raiskin, V. Boreyko, L. Bringuier, K. M. Chichon and others.
Since 2013, he has been gradually involved in opera productions at the State Theatre Košice, including Dialogues of the Carmelites (F. Poulenc), Rigoletto (G. Verdi), Falstaff (G. Verdi), as well as La Bohème (G. Puccini) and The Tales of Hoffmann (J. Offenbach), which he musically prepared. Since 2017, he has also collaborated with the Moravian-Silesian National Theatre in Ostrava, where he has conducted two ballet productions (The Three Musketeers by J. Kučera/P. Chalmer and Coppélia by L. Delibes) and an opera production of The Broken Jug/The Emperor of Atlantis by V. Ullmann. In 2017, he successfully debuted at the Slovak National Theatre with Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio. In the 2018/19 season, he participated in a new opera production of Don Carlo by G. Verdi, and in the recent season, he was involved in a new production of Madama Butterfly by G. Puccini. In the 2023/24 season, he successfully debuted at the National Theatre in Prague with Mozart's Così fan tutte and also made his first appearance with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra.
As a violinist, he became concertmaster of the State Philharmonic Košice in 2007, where he continues to perform and regularly appears as a soloist. He has gained extensive experience in various chamber ensembles, most notably with the Quasars Ensemble, Albrecht Quartet, Animé Piano Trio, and in a piano duo with Jordana Palovičová. He has performed numerous concerts with these chamber groups on significant stages both domestically and internationally (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Bulgaria). In 2018, he gave a violin recital in the chamber hall of the prestigious Shanghai Oriental Art Center in China. Since 2014, he has been the artistic director of the chamber orchestra Musica Cassovia. For over a decade, he also works as the choirmaster of the Košice Teachers' Choir.