Based in the historic capital Bratislava, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1929 as the first professional music ensemble in Slovakia, initially under the leadership of the renowned composer and conductor Oskar Nedbal. After Nedbal’s death, in 1930, the orchestra was conducted by František Dyk, and it has since worked under a number of prominent Czech, Slovak, and Yugoslav conductors, including Ondrej Lenárd, Krešimir Baranovič, and Róbert Stankovský, and has performed under such distinguished guest conductors as Břetislav Bakala, Karel Ančerl, Václav Smetáček, Václav Neumann, Zdeněk Košler, Sir Charles Mackerras, and Oliver von Dohnányi. As its early conductors emphasized contemporary Slovak music in their programs, the orchestra has been closely associated with the works of such composers as Alexander Moyzes, Eugen Suchoň, and Ján Cikker. It has accompanied such artists as Gidon Kremer, José Carreras, Peter Dvorský, Václav Hudeček, Sherrill Milnes, and Eva Marton, as well as Ray Charles, Shirley Bassey, and Liza Minnelli, and has toured extensively abroad and made more than 150 recordings covering a wide range of musical repertoire. In 2001, the Canadian conductor Charles Olivieri-Munroe became the orchestra’s music director.