State Theatre Košice

The National Theatre Košice, historically known as the State Theatre Košice, is a Slovak producing institution with opera, ballet and drama companies. Its main theatre on Hlavná Street opened on 28 September 1899, following construction to designs by Adolf Lang and Antal Steinhardt. A Slovak national theatre company was established in Košice in 1924 but experienced interruptions before its renewal in 1945 under Janko Borodáč. The institution's repertory combines spoken theatre and staged musical works; its activities extend beyond the historic main building to other performance spaces and guest appearances. Košice supports a full theatre company — opera, ballet and drama under one management — in a neo-Baroque house on the long main street of the eastern Slovak city, completed at the close of the nineteenth century and since restored to its historic decoration. The city has always been a crossing-place between Hungarian, Polish, Ukrainian and Slovak musical life, and the company travels accordingly, appearing across the border at the Viva il Canto festival in Cieszyn.