Roman Fraser, born in Amsterdam and raised in Montreal, began violin studies at age five and entered the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal at nine, where he studied with Johanne Arel. He later continued his studies at the Colburn School in Los Angeles with Martin Beaver and Clive Greensmith before transferring to McGill University’s Schulich School of Music to study with André Roy.

A passionate chamber musician, Roman won the McGill Chamber Music Competition in 2015 and 2016, and, as first violinist of the Milton String Quartet, received the Gold Medal and Grand Prize at the 2017 Fischoff Competition.

The Milton String Quartet’s Fischoff Gold Medal Tour brought them to Italy and the U.S. Midwest. They were quartet-in-residence at the Encore Chamber Music Institute in 2017 and participated in the Montreal International String Quartet Academy in 2016 and 2017. Roman later returned to Encore as a Violin Fellow and performed in Hawaii in a quartet with Jinjoo Cho, Eric Wong, and Jared Blajian.

In 2018, Roman was invited by Artist-in-Residence Philip Chiu to perform in Halifax as part of the Cecilia Concerts series with Measha Brueggergosman, Jinjoo Cho, Remi Pelletier, Arnold Choi, and Philip Chiu.

After spending 2019 to 2024 focusing on sustainable farming projects, Roman relocated to Halifax in 2025, where he serves as Assistant Principal Second Violin with Symphony Nova Scotia. He performs on an Alessandro Mezzadri violin, c. 1730.