PhDr. Igor Berger was a Slovak musicologist, music critic, publicist, music organizer and performer. After finishing his piano studies at the Bratislava Conservatory (after 1968), he went to the USA for a time to seek a career as a pianist. After his return, he worked in an antique shop on Michalská Street and studied musicology alongside. Later he worked at the Slovak Music Fund under the guidance of the then director of the SHF, Alojz Stušek.
In the 1990s he devote himself to the field of music and aesthetic education of youth. He was active as a moderator and performer in several original projects of educational concerts with tenor Ivan Ožvát or baritone Mikuláš Doboš (Let's smile with music, Music paints pictures, etc.). He was also an excellent improviser. They presented classical song repertoire and he also published his thoughts to this issue in the professional press.
However, Igor Berger was primarily a music publicist and critic. During his professional career, he published countless criticisms, reflections, articles in the magazines Hubobný život, Kultúrny život, previously in the popular magazine Rytmus, but also in the daily press. In his contributions, he paid attention primarily to original Slovak works, with an emphasis on choral music, but his reflection on concert life in Slovakia is also significant, which is reflected in numerous reviews of individual concert events, concert cycles, and important festivals (BHS, New Slovak Music). Reviews of audio carriers were also a natural part of his publishing activity.
In addition, he actively promoted and interpreted Yiddish songs. Together with Ivan Ožvát, they have gave more than 150 concerts at home and abroad and presented Jewish musical culture at our cultural centres abroad (in Bucharest, Budapest, Moscow, Belgrade, Warsaw...), as well as in restored synagogues in Slovakia.