Roman Kovalik

Play ASTEROIDS (Written by Russell Lowke, Music by Roman Kovalik)

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Roman Kovalik’s diverse musical background - from concert pianist to theatre multi instrumentalist, from classically trained composer to recording and touring rock guitarist – has formed a musical style which has been described as “cutting edge” (Graham Ward; Producer, Ex-Drummer of Paul McCartney & Tom Jones), “powerful and continuous innovative” (Christophe Beck; Film Composer and Emmy Award Winner), ”rich on harmonic content and superb melodies” (Mark Kilian; Film Composer for "Rendition", "Traitor", etc.), “a challenge to musical boundaries” (Andrew List; Composer, PhD in Music Composition), and “musically mature” (Paul Hepker; Film Composer for "Tsotsi", "Ex Men", etc.).
Roman Kovalik was born in Switzerland to Czech parents who had fled the Communists Regime after the Prague Spring in 1968. Roman discovered his passion for music early in his life: following his father's footsteps, he taught himself to play the violin when he was 5 years old. Roman felt an urge to express his ideas beyond the limitations of just one melodic line and he started to take private instructions on piano. When he was 8, Roman composed his first piece "Hymn to the Past" on the piano which was recorded by the band Succubus and broadcasted on national Swiss radio stations. At the age of 11, Roman was performing as a classical concert pianist in Switzerland.
At the age of 13, Roman picked up the electric guitar, founded the punk band Sprengkoerper, taking the role of lead singer/ main guitarist. Roman wrote over 30 pieces, he handled the band's promotion and booking and performed nationally for four years. In 1996, Roman founded the melodic orchestral rock band Succubus together with lead singer Philipp Gloor. With Succubus, Roman was able to express his creative ambitions by using an extended musical vocabulary with classical instrumentation. Succubus toured all over Europe and was a headline act at International Music Festivals until April 2003, when Roman decided to split up the band to take up studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Besides writing for two bands, Roman had worked many different projects such as composing the music for theatre productions: "Much Ado about Nothing" by W. Shakespeare in 1999, "Kabalen & Lieben" by T. Hugentobler in 2000, "Merlin" by T. Dorst in 2001. He composed a classical choir prelude for the Avantgarde Metal Opera "Shining Bright Mourningside" and he orchestrated the rest of the album written by Remo Borggi; the mastermind behind the legendary European metal band Messiah . In addition, Roman arranged popular songs into rock extravaganzas for the party band Zersprengte Koerper.
Roman's achievements at the Berklee College of Music (he graduated in May 2006 with a dual major in Film Scoring and Music Business/ Management) include Roman a Certificate of Excellence in Composition, the Berklee Achievement Scholarship, placements in several composition competitions - such as the Esterhazy String Quartett Competition, New Piano Compositions in 2005, the Kaliestro String Orchestra Competition, and the Pop/Rock Show in 2004. Several times, Roman had been on the Dean's List - an award for excellent academic achievement.
During his studies, Roman continued his extra-curricular activities, scored a movie ("Sick", directed by Matt Sulivan), composed music and completed the sound design for two video games ("Asteroids" and "Chevalier", created by Russel Lowke). Roman also performed as a pianist with the original band (Ashley Farrel Band ) as well as with cover bands ( Faith No More, Led Zeppelin ) in and around Boston.
Since Roman's move to Los Angeles in summer 2006, he has been working on a vast variety of projects as a composer, producer, arranger, music editor and orchestrator. He has written scores for independent movies ("Absent", "Katrina Frey's", "Echo Park", "Hard Feelings", "Bullet in the Brain"), he has composed and produced additional music for feature films, documentaries and TV series ("Feast II: Sloppy Seconds", "Without the King", "Day Break"). Roman has also written tracks for fashion shows (Valentine Good - Valentine Evil, Space Style 2007) and has transcribed and arranged popular songs for the renowned music schools "Sound Art" and "Join The Band". Roman has worked as a Composer Assistant for Mark Kilian ("Rendition", "Tsotsi" (Oscar for best foreign movie 2006)), Christopher Young ("Spiderman 3", "Ghost Rider"), and Steve Edwards ("Children of the Corn", "Hellraiser"). In addition, Roman has produced tracks for the full length album of the Londoner pop singer Coco ("Nakedstate") and produced "The God's" album "Demonstration of God", to which he contributed string arrangements. He has also produced and engineered the first EP for the LA-based rock band "Dirty Trash".
Roman is currently composing scores for several independent movies, ghostwriting for TV shows, working as a music producer for music libraries and local bands, and supporting fellow composers.