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1954 – 1959
he studied accordion playing at the Higher School of Music for Education of Music School Teachers in Bratislava (later the pedagogical branch of the Conservatory)
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1957 – 1963
art manager and the Bratislava accordion trio, assistent to a conductor, répétiteur and soloist of the Railway Art Ensemble, cantor, and district methodologist for amateur choirs
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1959 – 1969
a teacher of music at various schools (Bratislava, Žiar nad Hronom, Nové Mesto nad Váhom, Stará Turá)
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1967 – 1969
external studies of accordion playing at the Bratislava Conservatory
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1969 – 1974
Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (music theory)
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since 1979
an editor of the Publishing House of the Music Fund
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1990 – 1995
an external pedagogue at the Bratislava Conservatory (theoretical subjects) and the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (theoretical subjects, sacral music)
Mgr. Ivan Valenta is a Slovak composer, accordionist, educator, musicologist, and music publicist. In the fields of musicology and composition, he focused primarily on sacred music and spiritual songs.
He studied accordion performance at the Higher Music School for the Education of Music School Teachers in Bratislava (later the pedagogical branch of the Conservatory), and later completed his postgraduate studies at the Conservatory. He earned his degree in music theory at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava.
Since 1959, he worked as a teacher at various music schools. In addition, he served as a choir conductor for amateur choirs and as a cantor. He was also an active concert accordionist, performing among others with the Bratislava Accordion Trio and the Railway Artistic Ensemble. Later, he worked as an editor at the Music Fund Publishing House.
The music of Ivan Valenta is rooted in his personal faith.
"Valenta’s work is aimed above all at a wide social reach. With his sacred compositions, which he writes in several versions, and often in both the Czech and Slovak languages, he seeks to engage the listener with a message about the need for a spiritual faith. A second feature of his work is the pedagogical or instructive pieces for the use of Elementary Art Schools."
(JURÍK, Marián: Ivan Valenta. In: A Hundred Slovak Composers. Eds. Marián Jurík, Peter Zagar. Bratislava : National Music Centre Slovakia, 1998, p. 282.)