MUSICIANS from Slovakia

Top 2

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Slovak Musicians of all time. This list of famous Slovak Musicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806 - 1856)

With an HPI of 52.61, Johann Kaspar Mertz is the most famous Slovak Musician.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages on wikipedia.

Joseph Kaspar Mertz (17 August 1806 – 14 October 1856) was a guitarist and composer from the Austrian Empire.

2. Peter Machajdík (1961 - )

With an HPI of 49.05, Peter Machajdík is the 2nd most famous Slovak Musician.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Peter Machajdík ['maxajɟik] (born 1 June 1961) is a contemporary Slovak composer, sound and visual artist. He was born and grew up in Bratislava, Slovakia. In the 1990s, he took part in seminars with Vinko Globokar, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Clarence Barlow, Konrad Boehmer, and others. In 1992, he was the guest of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program. Machajdik has composed music in nearly all genres, including orchestra, band, chorus, chamber music, works for solo instrument, works for piano and organ, as well as liturgical works and hymns. Moreover, he has created a number of graphic notations, including the Dialogue with... series which is based on letters received from composer colleagues with additional visual elements added. While in this series the written content of the letters may appear as audible text, other graphic notations are purely visual (like Wold). Others again contain notation or text describing elements to be performed (like Donauklang). His music is published primarily by Musica Slovaca, Alea Publishing, Zimbel Press, and Edition Hudba. Peter Machajdík's music often asks questions about the society in which we live. It calls for humanity and responsibility that human beings should have to each other and to the world. Machajdík's works, often considered as the counterpoint to the violence, intolerance, racism and greed of our age, are marked by a keen sensitivity to instrumental colour and texture. Machajdik's orchestral works have been premiered by the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, State Philharmonic Orchestra of Košice, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Pomeranian Philharmonic, Lugansk Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Europea, Capella Istropolitana, Ensemble Metamorphosis, Cluster Ensemble, and many others. He has also worked with Jon Anderson from Yes, harpist Floraleda Sacchi, cimbalom virtuoso Enikö Ginzery, vocalist & drummer David Moss, conductors Benjamin Bayl, Anu Tali, Miran Vaupotić, Florian Ludwig, Pawel Przytocki, Gum Nanse, Przemysław Zych, clarinetists Martin Adámek and Guido Arbonelli, and violist Sasha Mirković. Film credits include Machajdik's scores for 4 Schüler gegen Stalin (2005), Wild Slovakia (2015) and Miloš and the Lynxes (2010). Machajdik has worked with choreographers and dancers such as Dorothea Rust, Studio tanca, Petra Fornayova, Tina Mantel, Lucia Kašiarová, and others. A vegetarian and teetotaler, Machajdík lives in Berlin, Germany, and in a little Slovak town situated in a valley, surrounded by lofty hills. He is currently Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Arts in Košice.