Juraj Filas’ compositions are inspired by his faith in music’s power to heal wounds, open hearts, and bring peoples together. The works of Juraj Filas have been performed five times in Carnegie Hall over the last thirteen years. His music is encompassed by one philosophy: Harmony is the needed balance for the universe. Juraj Filas is the author of more than 120 opuses across the genres of concerts, symphonies, cantatas, operas, and chamber music. His requiem, Oratio Spei (Prayer of Hope), dedicated to the victims of terrorism, has been performed at the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyala and at Carnegie Hall by the Oratorio Society of New York. Juraj Filas was born in 1955 and grew up in Kosice, Slovakia. He first graduated from the Prague Conservatory with a degree in voice, but harmful coaching robbed him of his ability to perform. Yet it was this misfortune that led him to study at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts, where he was discovered by the great professors Jan Zdenek Bartos (a student of Josef Suk who was a student of Antonin Dvorak) and Jiri Pauer. It was under their tutelage that Filas discovered his lifelong passion for composition. Filas soon found acclaim in Czechoslovakia, three times winning the title of young composer laureate in Ostrava (Generace), and then found international renown when his TV opera Memento Mori won the Jacobs-Suchard Prize at the International Music Competition in 1989.