Opera Europa is condemning the dismissal of General Manager Matej Drlička from the Slovak National Theatre.

Opera Europa Director Karen Stone said, “Opera Europa is deeply shocked and gravely concerned by the abrupt decision on August 6th by Slovakia’s culture minister, Martina Šimkovičová, to dismiss Matej Drlička as General Manager of the Slovenské národné divadlo Slovak National Theatre.”

She added, “Matej Drlička has been a prominent advocate for the arts in Slovakia, passionately promoting Slovak works to broad audiences while fostering and nurturing the next generation of artists and audiences and gaining international recognition for his work. This decision, alongside the dismissal of other cultural leaders, signals a troubling threat to artistic freedom in Slovakia.”

“Article 13 of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) states that ‘The arts and scientific research shall be free of constraint.’ Furthermore, the Council of Europe’s Manifesto on the Freedom of Expression of Arts and Culture in the Digital Era highlights that ‘Arts and culture emphasise, express, communicate, and anticipate the human reaction to social changes… Creativity and diverse cultural expressions, enabled and stimulated by artistic freedom of expression, are catalysts for sustainable development planning and policies.’

She concluded by noting, “that Minister Šimkovičová’s political decisions clearly violate the European Union’s charter. The widespread public backlash against this right-wing attack on #ArtisticFreedom, alongside the broader criticism of the Slovak government’s efforts to stifle dissenting voices, demonstrates that the official reason for Matej Drlička’s dismissal—claiming he ‘confused the position of general director of a national cultural institution with political activism and repeatedly brought politics into the activities of the SND’—is rejected by many Slovakians, European cultural institutions, politicians, and the media. At Opera Europa, we also firmly reject the stated rationale for Matej Drlička’s dismissal. We stand by him in his fight against this instance of extreme right-wing cultural vandalism and urge the European Union to closely monitor developments in Slovakia and safeguard the independence and #FreedomOfExpression of cultural institutions across Europe.”

The statement comes after Drlička and Alexandra Kusá, who was also removed as the director of the Slovak National Gallery presented a press conference and employees of the two institutions joined the two leaders in expressing their opposition to the decision by the Ministry of Culture.

According to the Ministry of Culture, the reason for letting them go was due to “political activism,” and an alleged preference for foreign over Slovak opera singers, among other reasons.