about | biography
Roman Vladimovich Baranskiy (b. 1986) is an award-winning composer living in San Francisco, CA. He is studying Music Composition (M.M) at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in the studio of David Garner. His piece, Amphithymia, from String Quartet #1 was the winner of the 2015 Shanghai Music Festival and performed in Shanghai, China. He was also a semi-finalist at the Rapido! Take Four Composition Contest where he collaborated with the Left Coast Ensemble.
Roman moved to the United States with his family in 2002 from Kamenets-Podolski, Ukraine. There, he went through rigorous musical training at an early age and was distinguished with the Red Diploma, signifying outstanding academic achievement. Upon arriving to the U.S, it didn’t take long before his musical skills were recognized as a vital contribution to Sunnyside High School’s Orchestra and Jazz Band; in 2004 he received the National School Orchestra Award. Later, in 2011 he received the Elizabeth Bennett-Gress Memorial Scholarship while studying Piano Performance in Fresno City College, where he performed in an Honors Recital.
As a composer, Roman draws inspiration from a diverse group of craftsmen such as Dmitry Shostakovich, Olivier Messiaen, Witold Lutoslawski, Tristan Murail, and many others. Combining the latest trends with age-old techniques, his music explores the constant tension present in nature and humanity. His latest piece, “Birds Landing”, which won the 2020 CAPMT Commissioned Composer competition, explores the murmurations of birds as they ebb and flow, caught between the unknown of space and time, and the groundedness of earth. In his own words “music composition is a process of rediscovering that melody which our soul knew long before it traded its innocence for acceptance and recognition.”
Besides being a composer and a performer, Roman is also a music teacher. He currently enjoys teaching a studio of about 20 students to whom he is dedicated to pass on his love for music.
Roman moved to the United States with his family in 2002 from Kamenets-Podolski, Ukraine. There, he went through rigorous musical training at an early age and was distinguished with the Red Diploma, signifying outstanding academic achievement. Upon arriving to the U.S, it didn’t take long before his musical skills were recognized as a vital contribution to Sunnyside High School’s Orchestra and Jazz Band; in 2004 he received the National School Orchestra Award. Later, in 2011 he received the Elizabeth Bennett-Gress Memorial Scholarship while studying Piano Performance in Fresno City College, where he performed in an Honors Recital.
As a composer, Roman draws inspiration from a diverse group of craftsmen such as Dmitry Shostakovich, Olivier Messiaen, Witold Lutoslawski, Tristan Murail, and many others. Combining the latest trends with age-old techniques, his music explores the constant tension present in nature and humanity. His latest piece, “Birds Landing”, which won the 2020 CAPMT Commissioned Composer competition, explores the murmurations of birds as they ebb and flow, caught between the unknown of space and time, and the groundedness of earth. In his own words “music composition is a process of rediscovering that melody which our soul knew long before it traded its innocence for acceptance and recognition.”
Besides being a composer and a performer, Roman is also a music teacher. He currently enjoys teaching a studio of about 20 students to whom he is dedicated to pass on his love for music.