about | biography
Roman Vladimovich Baranskiy (b. 1986) is an award-winning composer living in San Francisco, CA where he studies music composition 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. In Ukraine he went through rigorous musical training at an early age and was distinguished with the Red Diploma, signifying outstanding academic achievement. Upon arrival in the United States, 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, which culminated in an Honors Recital.
As a composer, Roman draws inspiration from a vast group of craftsmen such as Sergei Rachmaninoff, Dmitry Shostakovich, Django Reinhardt and Astor Piazzola. Weaving his compositions by borrowing from various styles such as gypsy jazz, flamenco, electronic music, Eastern Europe folklore, and other recyclable sound waves found in the air around him, Roman creates music that takes a firm stand with one foot in present and one in the past. This mix of his Eastern European roots along with his more progressive interests make for a bold, dramatic and elaborate, yet delicate style. 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.”
His relentless quest for the new ways of expressing himself through music can be illustrated by his involvement with The Thomas Confession rock band. In 2005 he became a member of the band where he contributed as a bassist, arranger, and songwriter, eventually releasing the Trust Me demo in 2009 and then the full album, Convolutions, in 2011.
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. In Ukraine he went through rigorous musical training at an early age and was distinguished with the Red Diploma, signifying outstanding academic achievement. Upon arrival in the United States, 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, which culminated in an Honors Recital.
As a composer, Roman draws inspiration from a vast group of craftsmen such as Sergei Rachmaninoff, Dmitry Shostakovich, Django Reinhardt and Astor Piazzola. Weaving his compositions by borrowing from various styles such as gypsy jazz, flamenco, electronic music, Eastern Europe folklore, and other recyclable sound waves found in the air around him, Roman creates music that takes a firm stand with one foot in present and one in the past. This mix of his Eastern European roots along with his more progressive interests make for a bold, dramatic and elaborate, yet delicate style. 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.”
His relentless quest for the new ways of expressing himself through music can be illustrated by his involvement with The Thomas Confession rock band. In 2005 he became a member of the band where he contributed as a bassist, arranger, and songwriter, eventually releasing the Trust Me demo in 2009 and then the full album, Convolutions, in 2011.
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.