The Slovak Sinfonietta Žilina is one of the best known professional orchestras in Eastern Europe and holds a very important position in Slovak musical culture. It was founded in 1974 as the only “Mozart-style” orchestra in Slovakia. Since then the orchestra has attained a prominent position in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia as well as considerable international renown. In the course of its activities over 30 years the orchestra has enjoyed an intensive artistic life. Its 35 members are mainly graduates of the academies of music in Prague, Brno and Bratislava and many of them are winners of international competitions and active both as soloists and chamber music players. The quality of the players together with the experience and musicianship of the founding musical director and conductor Eduard Fischer (1930–1993) brought about the quick artistic growth of the orchestra. Already in 1977 the orchestra had won international recognition when it was invited to the Salzburg Festival and designated the official orchestra of that prestigious festival. Soon after there followed appearances at the Prague Spring and major festivals throughout Europe, including the Vienna Festwochen, Spring Festival and the Haydn Festival in Vienna. Only three orchestras visit these Viennese festivals regularly every year, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Slovak Sinfonietta. The orchestra has been a guest of many other important festivals in Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Poland, and Brazil, in addition to concert engagements in Great Britain, Japan, Russia, Hungary, Finland, Sweden, Holland, Tunisia, Cyprus and the United States.

The Slovak Sinfonietta is a small symphony orchestra, but has a very broad repertoire of baroque, classical, early romantic, and twentieth-century works. The orchestra has a natural affinity with the rich Slavic music of its cultural heritage. There has been collaboration with distinguished conductors and soloists and a number of acclaimed recordings. The music director of the orchestra from 1995 to 2001 was Leoš Svárovský. Since 2004 the music director has been Oliver von Dohnányi. The chief conductor emeritus is Tsugio Maeda from Japan.