The String Orchestra JUNIOR by Jozef Kresánek Elementary School of Arts came into existence during the 1997/1998 school year under the artistic direction of Janka Spálová. It consists of students from the strings department of the school. The repertoire includes pieces from composers of various styles and periods. The orchestra supports student soloists as well, by mastering the orchestral portions of concerts for piano, flute and violin written by J. Haydn, W. A. Mozart, J. S. Bach and many others. The String Orchestra JUNIOR performed in prestigious concert halls in Slovakia – for example Reduta (the building of Slovak Philharmonic), as well as in Italy, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Slovenia. The orchestra took part at various national and also international festivals, for example POHODA (Slovakia, 2013), 59e Europees Muziekfestival voor de Jeugd, Neerpelt (Belgium, 2011), At the Watergate, Sneek (Netherlands, 2018), or International Festival of Music, Salzburg (Austria, 2018). Since September 2022 the orchestra performs under the artistic direction of Vlasta Veľasová. In 2023 Junior was awarded First prize "Cum laude" at the European Music Festival for Young People in Neerpelt (71st season). In the Slovak national competition Divertimento Musicale that same year, the orchestra won a special prize for the dramaturgy of their competing program, was placed in the gold rank, and became the absolute winner of the competition. At the International Music Festival in Bratislava in 2023, Junior was placed in the gold rank in the category of Youth Orchestras under 21 years of age.