Silvia Mária Fecsková

PaeDr. Mgr. Silvia Fecsková is a Slovak musicologist, art historian, music critic, publicist, dramaturge, regenschori, educator, and music manager. She studied Musicology at the Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava, and privately studied conducting, organ playing, and Gregorian chant under Professors Jaroslav Malina and Miroslav Venhoda in Prague. Later, she expanded her studies with theory of liturgical music at the Aloisianum Faculty of Theology in Bratislava.

She worked as an assistant lecturer at the Department of Music Education at the Faculty of Education of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Prešov, at the Faculty of Arts of UPJŠ, and at the Faculty of Arts of Prešov University. Since 2001, she has been working at a primary school with kindergarten in the village of Gaboltov and privately teaches music, preparing students for secondary and higher education, as well as Gregorian chant, liturgical music, and choir conducting for liturgical musicians.

One of Silvia Fecsková’s key fields is extensive musicological, journalistic, and editorial work focused primarily (though not exclusively) on regional musical culture and its history, artistic personalities, and concert life connected to the town of Bardejov. Due to restrictions on publishing during the socialist regime, her articles appeared under various pseudonyms (e.g., -sf-, -SF-, -sivá-, -SIVÁ-, -les-, LES-) or anonymously. Her works are published in both domestic and international periodicals.

An important part of her activities is music dramaturgy, organization, and lecturing. Her name is associated with the dramaturgy of over 270 classical music concerts, educational and spiritual concerts, and events such as the Bardejov Music Spring Festival, Jozef Grešák’s Music Autumn in Bardejov, the City Celebrations of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Bardejov (1990–1994), and others.

She was also active as a choir conductor — leading the Church Choir of St. Giles Cathedral in Bardejov (1975–1987), the Church Choir of the Roman Catholic Parish Office in Svidník (1990–1991), and the Evangelical A.V. Mixed Choir Zachariáš Zarewut in Bardejov (1993–2015), with which she prepared more than 184 compositions. For her contribution to the cultural development of the town, she was awarded the Mayor’s Prize of Bardejov in 2018.