Marianna Bárdiová

PhDr. Marianna Bárdiová, PhD. is a Slovak musicologist, museum specialist, educator, and organizer of cultural events. She is active in professional scriptwriting, reviewing, publishing, editorial work, dramaturgy, and the conception of cultural events, as well as organizational and presenting activities.

Her research focuses on regional music historiography from the 19th century, with a specialization in the period 1918–1938, military music, as well as methodology in music-museum work, museum pedagogy, and music museology. 

Marianna Bárdiová has been actively involved in developing the musical life of Banská Bystrica. Each year, she conceptually, substantively, and organizationally prepared 10 to 15 music and cultural events for Literature and Music Museum in Banská Bystrica visitors as well as for the general public across Slovakia. These included lectures, discussions with artists, and unconventional educational sessions in the museum. She has moderated various seminars, symposia, conferences, concerts, and other mixed artistic programs.

A special category of events consisted of specialized museum-based lessons for primary and secondary school students, as well as for marginalized visitor groups, incorporating elements of music therapy and art therapy, along with methodological days for primary school teachers.

Her lectures have mainly focused on composers connected to the Banská Bystrica region (Anton Július Hiray, Ján Egry, Ján Levoslav Bella, Viliam Figuš-Bystrý, Ján Móry, Andrej Očenáš, Ján Cikker, Tibor Andrašovan, Zdenko Mikula) and thematic topics such as The Slovak National Uprising in Music, Musical Life in Banská Bystrica from the 19th Century, Musical and Literary Traditions of Banská Bystrica and its Region, Musical Romanticism and Composers of Banská Bystrica and the Region, and the Literary and Music Museum in Banská Bystrica.

In organizing conferences and programs, she collaborated with multiple institutions, including the Union of Slovak Composers, Slovak Music Union, Slovak Philharmonic, Institute of Musicology SAS, Music Fund, Slovak National Museum – Music Museum Bratislava, Matica slovenská (Archive of Literature and Art), and the Theatre Institute in Bratislava.

M. Bárdiová also contributed to radio programming for Slovak Radio, including Rádio Devín (Ars Musica, Akcenty, Rezonancie, Musica Vocalis, Zvonkohra), Rádio Regina Banská Bystrica (Ars Fórum, Stories from the Museum, At Home), Studio Banská Bystrica, and others. She collaborated with Radio Burgenland Vienna, Radio Ljubljana, Radio Okey, Elán, Lumen, and Radio Twist.

From 1991 to 2001, she served as Chair of the Board and Administrator of the Ján Levoslav Bella Foundation in Banská Bystrica, and from 2000 to 2013 she was a member of the Board of the Ján Cikker Foundation. She has undertaken several study visits and research stays in Hungary, Bulgaria, Austria, Poland, and Germany.

She has received multiple awards, including the Bronze Badge of the City of Banská Bystrica (1983), Honorary Recognition from the Culture Commission of the District National Committee in Banská Bystrica (1989), Commemorative Plaque of Liptovský Mikuláš on the 160th Anniversary of the Birth of Ján Levoslav Bella (2003), the Flower of Culture and Art Award of the Banská Bystrica Self-Governing Region (2009), the Milan Rastislav Štefánik Medal, 2nd Class, awarded by the Central Council of the Slovak Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters on the 65th Anniversary of the End of World War II for promoting the ideas of the Slovak National Uprising and humanism in music, and the Medal of the Prime Minister on the 65th Anniversary of the End of World War II for promoting the ideas of the Slovak National Uprising and humanism in music (2010).