Composer, pianist and theoretician of music Roman Berger, honorary member of the Polish Composers' Union, died on 22 December 2020 in Bratislava.
From 1949 he studied theory with Jan Gawlas and piano with Marta Gabryś-Furmanik at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice. In 1952 Stalinist repression forced him to move to Bratislava with his family. He continued his education at the Vysoka Škola Muzickich Umeni, where he studied piano with Frico Kafenda, and, after the latter's death, with Štefan Németh-Šamorinski (degree in 1956), as well as composition with Dezider Kardoš (honours degree in 1965).
From 1956 he worked as a piano professor at the Conservatory in Bratislava. He also started lecturing at his alma mater: in 1965-71 he taught classes in modern music, introduction to composition and electronic music at the Department of Theory. In 1980-91 he worked at the Art History Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. From 1989 he was a member of the team preparing a new conception of artistic education at the Ministry of Education as well as a member of an Advisory Body to the Minister of Culture (until March 1991).
He was also involved in the activity of the Union of Slovak Composers, of which he was secretary from 1966. Expelled from the Union in 1968 for his participation in the "Prague Spring", he regained his membership only in 1977, but twelve years later - in 1989 - he resigned it himself. With Mark Kopelent and Alois Piňos, he reactivated the Czechoslovak Section of the ISCM/SIMC. He has also been associated with the Czech section of the Club of Rome and with the "Atelier" group.
Roman Berger has written several hundred theoretical works, philosophical essays and other publications. He has received a number of prizes for his compositions. In 1988 the Vienna University honored him with the J.G. v. Herder Prize for all his achievements in composition and theory. In 1999, the General Assembly of the Polish Composers' Union granted Berger an honorary membership.
Let us honor his memory!