Composer, Conductor. One of the most important Scandinavian musicans of the 1700s, he has been hailed as "The Father of Swedish Music". Roman was born in Stockholm. A child prodigy, he made his debut as a violinist at age seven and joined the Swedish Royal Orchestra at 16. King Charles XII personally authorized his further education in England (1716 to 1721), allowing him to keep his salary in absentia. In London he met Handel and Geminiani, and studied with Johann Christoph Pepusch, who later adapted the score for John Gay's "The Beggar's Opera"; not surprisingly, Italian and English influences are predominant in his compositions. Upon his return to Stockholm Roman was appointed deputy master of the Swedish Royal Orchestra, and became its director in 1727. Intent on "fertilizing the musical wastelands" of Sweden (his words), he organized the nation's first public concerts and imported a great deal of music from all over Europe. At the same time he influenced other native composers with his own international style, and in advocating the use of Swedish vernacular in settings of religious texts. In 1740 he was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Growing deafness forced Roman's gradual withdrawal from musical activity and he spent his final years at his estate in Haraldsmala, in the parish of Ryssby, where he translated foreign textbooks on music. For an artist of such significance sadly little of Roman's music is available for performance. Only a collection of 12 Trio Sonatas (1727) was published during his lifetime, and his manuscripts survive in such a chaotic state that as of the early 21st Century there was no authoritative edition. By far his best known works are the splendid "Drottningholm Music" (1744), a set of 24 pieces written for the wedding of Crown Prince Adolf Frederick, and the orchestral "Suite in D Major" (c. 1741). The striking quality of these and the sonatas suggest other treasures from Roman's pen are still buried in Swedish archives.