Ladislav Slovák is ranked as one of the most distinguished personalities in Slovak music life. After finishing the organ course at the City Music School he entered the Conservatory in Bratislava, where he studied organ and conducting with Professor K. Schimpl. Graduating in 1945, he became a producer for Czechoslovak Radio in Bratislava.

In 1946 he founded an amateur chorus, which was engaged in 1948 as a professional body by Czechoslovak Radio. Under the ten-year guidance of Ladislav Slovák the ensemble achieved the highest artistic level. Two great conductor personalities,Václav Talich and Evgeny Mravinsky, influenced Slovák’s artistic growth and development.

Under Talich’s guidance, in 1953 Slovák completed his conducting studies at the Music Academy in Bratislava. Talich was the first to discover his exceptional talent and organisational abilities, his persistence and uncompromising approach to creative work. In 1954–55 Slovák became Mravinsky’s assistant with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, where he turned his attention to the rich treasury of Russian orchestral music.