Peter Nagy was born on 9 April 1959 in Prešov and is one of the most successful singers of Slovak popular music of the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. After graduating from the Gymnasium of Ján Adam Rayman in Prešov, he graduated from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Performing Arts in Košice. 

The first successful song with which Peter Nagy came to the public's attention was the song „Professor Indigo“. He recorded it in August 1982 in the studio of Košice Radio together with guitarist Karl Witz, who later collaborated with the bands Modus and Collegium musicum. The composition was released a year later. In 1982-1983 Nagy completed military basic service as a vocalist in the Military Art Ensemble in Bratislava, where he founded his first professional music group called Indigo. During this period he was offered to sing with the group Modus. 

After the release of their third album Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? Peter Nagy received the Golden Crest of Opus from the then director of the Opus label Ivan Stanislav for selling the millionth record. Among the most successful songs of this album was the song „Love is here with you“, which won three times in the Triangel TV hit parade. In 1987, at the time of its fourth anniversary, Peter Nagy and his band Indigo had performed over 500 concerts, two of which were played in front of a sold-out Prague's Lucerna.

Since the second half of the 1980s, Peter Nagy has also been involved in unique children's album projects aimed at discovering young singing talents. The first of a series of these albums was the title Peter, Vašo and Beáta for Children, which he prepared with Beata Dubasová and Vasa Patejdl. In the first half of the 1990s, Peter Nagy hosted the youth show Fany on Slovak Television.

Source: https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Nagy
Photo source: By User:Richenza - File:Peter Nagy (20).jpg, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58069418

Peter Lipa was born on 30 May 1943 in Prešov and from a young age he showed a deep passion for music. He began to learn the violin at the age of twelve and later added the trumpet, trombone and guitar to his skills. After graduating from high school in Prešov, he studied at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava and later worked as an editor at Czechoslovak Radio. Between 1975 and 1976 he completed postgraduate studies in journalism at Comenius University. 

His musical journey began in the early 1960s with the Strings, followed by Istropilana, Blues Five, Gustáv Offerman Orchestra, Revival Jazz Band, T+R Band and Lipa Andršt Blues Band. With the Blues Five he won the Discovery of the Festival Award at the 2nd Beat Festival in Prague in 1968. Throughout his career, he has actively collaborated with pianists, the instrument he finds most compatible with his voice. His musical partners were Ladislav Gerhard, Milan Svoboda, Gabriel Jonáš, Emil Viklický, Peter Breiner, Boris Urbánek, Juraj Tatár, Pavol Bodnár and his son Peter Lipa Jr.

In 1978 he founded his own band Combo, which evolved into today's Peter Lipa Band. Over the years he has been involved in many short and long term collaborations including current projects such as the Visegrad Blues Band, EU4 and Traditional Club. He was the first artist in Slovakia to introduce the Slovak language into jazz. He draws on the natural rhythm of the language and transforms it into musical phrasing. His repertoire ranges from traditional melodies and swing standards to modern jazz.

In 1990, the Slovak Jazz Society was founded, with Peter Lipa as its founding president, a position he still holds today. Over the years he has performed on all continents. Although most of his songs have been recorded and released, it is a strange fact that due to communist censorship his debut album was released only in his 40th year of life. One of the most unforgettable moments in his musical career was a spontaneous duet with Bobby McFerrin, who invited him on stage at the end of his concert in Bratislava in 1986.

Source: Peter Lipa (Online: https://www.peterlipa.com/en/biography/)
Photo sourceAuthor: Jindřich Nosek (NoJin) - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115005958

Katarína Koščová, pop and jazz singer, native of Prešov. She studied philosophy and aesthetics at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Prešov. 

In 2005 she became the winner of the first series of Slovakia Searches for SuperStar. With her band, which includes Michal Brandys (acoustic guitar, violin), Daniel Špiner (keyboards), Viliam Cicoň (bass guitar) and Miroslav Szirmai (percussion), she performs in clubs and at literary events, and her collaboration with the band Neřež has also become successful. 

He has several solo albums to his credit, such as We don't know each other yet (2005), Naboso (2006), Unshakeable (2009), Christmas Eve (2012), Windowed (2014). Also with Veronika Husovská and Martin Husovský she published CD Lullabies (2009). 

Source: hc.sk
Photo sourceAuthor: Pavol Frešo - flickr.com, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59741755

Katarína Knechtová is a Slovak singer, composer, lyricist, as well as pianist, guitarist and drummer. She comes from Prešov, graduated from the Gymnasium of Jan Adam Rayman and also graduated from the Folk Art School in piano and sang in the ensemble Prešovchčatá .

At the age of fifteen she started her musical career in the band IMT Smile. The then seventeen-year-old Ivan Tásler, the leader of the band, was interested in her during her studies at the Prešov gymnasium and offered her a position as a vocalist. Soon after, the group set off on a major Czechoslovak tour as the support act for the legendary Olympik .

In 1997 he founded a new band Peha with drummer Martin Migas and guitarist Karel Sivak. The success is immediate and the song „Remote Control“ becomes the most played song in Slovakia. Aurel for 2005 became a triumph for Peha, where they won four awards: best singer, best group, best song „Za tebou“ and best album.

Knechtová left Peha in 2008 and embarked on a solo career. For the film BATHORY by Juraj Jakubisko, she composed the song „Muoj Bože“ , inspired by medieval psalms and partly in Old Slavonic, in 2007. Jakubisko directed a music video for the song with Katarina. The song was extremely popular, winning Slovak music charts and winning the prestigious Aurel award for the best song of the year. Despite this, it was not included in the final film.

In addition to concerts in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Katarína has also composed film music, for example for the film ISABEL and the student film ZEM JE GUĽATÁ (THE EARTH IS GULATÁ). Her dream project was to found a girl group The Cubes, but she did not sing in it. In her own words, she founded it so that she could play drums in it. The group released an album and a music video of the same name „Tomorrow“ in 2012. The Cubes supported the band Garbage and Knechtova herself supported the Cranberries and Depeche Mode at concerts in Bratislava and Prague. .

Katarína has received numerous awards, such as the Aurel and OTO awards for the best singer of the year, or the Silver Nightingales. Apart from her music, she also likes to experiment with her appearance and often surprises especially with the colour and length of her hair. Although her latest album has an English version, she prefers Slovak in her work, is involved in projects to promote Slovak products and still lives in her native Prešov.

Source: https://www.csfd.sk/tvorca/101063-katarina-knechtova/biografia/
Photo source: By Fishfrog - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29706592

Ivan Tásler was born on 16 July 1979 in Prešov, where he attended the People's School of Arts for ten years. From 1993 to 1997 he graduated from the Jan Adam Rayman Gymnasium in Prešov and continued his studies at the Orthodox Faculty of the University of Prešov, where he completed two semesters of theology.

His father Miroslav Tásler Sr. is a musician who has performed in the Beatmakers, Roams, Nálada and other bands, while his brother Miro is also a musician. And so in Ivan, musical talent won out over a career as a priest, and after the formation of IMT Smile, the group of two brothers was followed by other big names such as Katka Knechtová, Marián Čekovský, Oskar Rózsa, Marcel Buntaj and Martin Valihora, among others.

In 2019, IMT Smile was awarded the Crystal Wing in the category of popular music, as they have already released almost twenty LP records in over thirty years of existence, along with five concert albums and several compilations and collaborations with other musicians, such as Richard Müller and Czech legend Janek Ledecky. Ivan Tásler has received numerous awards for his work, both from SOZA, Aurel and several Nightingale awards.

Source: https://www.stvr.sk/novinky/osobnosti/370023/ivan-tasler-ma-45-rokov-studium-teologie-vymenil-za-usmev-ktory-mu-priniesol-uspech
Photo source: Author: the Bratislava County from Bratislava, Slovakia - Music of Europe on Devín, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55873854

He was born in the family of a teacher in Zvolenská Slatina on 6 December 1872. Already in his childhood he learned to play the piano and the organ. He graduated from the teacher's institute in Kláštor pod Znievom and passed the state examinations in music at the Hungarian Royal Academy in Budapest. He worked as an organist and professor of music in Jagr, Veľký Varadin, Čurgov and Kláštor pod Znievom. 

In 1908 he settled in Prešov and became a professor of music and Slovak at the Hungarian Royal State Teachers' Gymnasium. From 1919 Moyzes was the first Slovak administrator of this school and chairman of the administrative committee of the Šariš County. In 1920 he was one of the founding members of the local branch of the Slovak Matrix. At the same time, he was an administrator and professor at the town music school and in 1921-1929 also its director.

Moyzes established himself as a successful composer, concert artist, choirmaster and conductor of secular and church choirs. He was a pioneer of realistic tendencies in Slovak music and a forerunner of Slovak musical modernism. He composed Missa solemnis in C, Missa in D minor, Little Highland Symphony, Ctibora, Christmas Carol, Orphans, The Forest Maiden, The Devil's River and the orchestral composition Our Slovakia. 

He wrote several textbooks for Slovak schools: a music-theoretical music book, a school songbook for Slovak kindergartens and folk schools, and a small school of singing. He arranged Slovak folk songs, especially from the surroundings of his native Zvolen and from Šariš. He died in Prešov on 2 April 1944 and is buried in the local cemetery. One of the elementary art schools is named after him.

Source: Regional Library P. O. Hviezdoslav in Prešov; Micro-project.
Photo source: Author Presov Slovakia 1227.JPG: Ing.Mgr. Mathuzalem - Presov Slovakia 1227.JPG, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16691032

The composer, violinist and conductor Béla Kéler was born in Bardejov on 13 February 1820. After studies in Levoča, Debrecen and Prešov, he was hired as a violinist in the orchestra of the Vienna Theatre in 1845. A year later he published his first opus out of a total of 139 published compositions.

In 1854, Kéler's conducting career began in Johann Sommer's orchestra in Berlin and continued the following season in the Lanner Orchestra in Vienna. From 1856 to 1860 Kéler held the post of Kapellmeister of Count Mazzuchelli's military music. After a brief stint at the head of his own orchestra in Budapest, he left for Wiesbaden, where he lived and worked for the last twenty years of his life.

From 1863 he led the local orchestra of Duke Adolf I of Nassau and later the Spa Orchestra. From 1873 to 1882 he was guest conductor of orchestras in London, Manchester, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Paris, Munich, Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, Leipzig and Zurich. He died on 20 November 1882 in Wiesbaden, where he is buried.

Source: belakeler.eu
Photo source: By Unknown author, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21597281