Roman Berger (1930) is a member of the Slovak composers’ generation who disregarding unfavourable surroundings and difficult conditions in the 1960s asserted the ideas and creative goals surpassing the official norms in the starting points and results of domestic compositional activities, thus moulding the period character of the so-called Slovak avant-garde music. The concentrated view on the figure of the composer Roman Berger reflects the author’s own compositional activity through analyses of particular compositions and examination of the intention of his musical utterance directed ad Sacrum, what Berger emphasizes by a significant selection of music devices and tone material (accent on sound, mind, rhythmic-metric pulsation, expression and semantics) in his individual creative phases. The composition of classical music – music of protest, lament or hope – became organic part of Berger’s musical mind. Through his music he aims at a “solution” and “interpretation” of the world problems. This is the context in which the synthesis of Berger’s compositional language and philosophical thinking should be perceived.

The life and artistic aspirations of violin virtuoso Duci de Kerekjarto (1900–1962) have not become a subject of any scholarly study or review yet. In our contribution we are dealing with the basic life story of this Vrútky native, including special chapters on the European and American career of the violinist and movie actor based of the information contained in the contributions published in period press in the U.S.A. in the form of invitations and reviews of his performances.

The contribution Opera and Young Spectator. The Perspective of a Relationship deals with the questions of the current position of opera in the society especially in the relation to the young generation. How to ensure the continuity of the operatic art to the future? What is necessary to do to encourage the society to listen to opera in the future? How could young spectators be captivated by opera? The author points to the fact that in their endeavour to address the youth the opera creators and managers often reach for simplified stage interpretation of the operatic work. However, to prefer the legibility to quality is not the right approach. The young spectator should be addressed by a language, which is peculiar for the stage director and at the same time generally understandable, ensuring also individual and cultural moulding of the young. When we are speaking about the opera for the youth, the stage director’s work should be based on four dominant criteria: 1. generally accepted values; 2. inspiring individuals; 3. communication in the society; 4. the endeavour to produce attractive musical, dynamic, and aesthetically impressive visual. This approach is documented by the example of the stage production of the opera Martin and Sun written by the Slovak composer Tibor Frešo, staged in the Slovak National Theatre in 2006 by the author of the contribution.

In the form of reflections the study focuses on one of the latest fundamental publications Sein und Schein. Explorations in Existential Semiotics (De Gruyter Mouton, 2015) by the outstanding world music semiologist Eero Tarasti. Exploring in it the central categories of sein (being) and schein (appearance) Tarasti investigates the peculiarities of “ontological-transcendental” questions of existential semiotics in a wide scope of subjects. Apart from searching for the roots of this aspect of semiotic thinking in the history of philosophy and arts the author of the publication relies on A. J. Greimas’ models as his method, innovatively transposing them into his own original concept. Simultaneously he accentuates the importance of T. Sebeok’s biosemiotics, analyzes the semiotics of resistance in the current era of globalization, deals with culturological questions of semiocrisis and transcendence, and the issue of genre in music, as well as in the so-called lesser arts. In the conclusion of the work he evaluates retrospectively the half-century of creation of organizational semiotics platforms, and at the same time he asks questions about the justification of this research discipline in our present world.