Biography.
Roger Goula is a London-based composer and multi-instrumentalist whose range of original works spans across albums, film scores, music for dance, TV, theatre, and art installation. Inspired by renaissance and baroque music, as well as minimalism, Roger’s music delves into an experimental approach of blending electronics with classical chamber and orchestral music through repetition of minimal elements and emotionally-transporting textures.
Roger has scored many award-winning films which have been presented at festivals such as Venice Film Festival, Toronto, Sundance, Tribeca and BFI amongst many others, and was also featured in the prestigious ASCAP Composers Spotlight at Sundance Film Festival 2018 and 2022.
Roger composed the score for Oscar-nominated All That Breathes, directed by Shaunak Sen. The documentary premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2022, where it was awarded the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize under the documentary category, and went on to win the L’œil d’or Award at Cannes Film Festival.
Roger has composed for numerous award-winning television programmes, including the BAFTA-winning BBC drama Killed By My Debt; the BAFTA-nominated BBC drama Against The Law, starring Daniel Mays; the final episodes of the crime drama series Inspector George Gently; the feature documentaries Diana: 7 Days and The Betrayed Girls both directed by Henry Singer, the BAFTA-winning BBC docudrama The Left Behind, and the ITV/Netflix flagship series The Ripper. Roger also collaborated with film & TV composer Harry Escott on the score for the ITV fantasy-drama series The Frankenstein Chronicles starring Sean Bean.
Roger has scored many renowned feature documentaries such as the BIFA-nominatedVersus: The Life And Films Of Ken Loach; the BAFTA-nominated feature The Hard Stopfrom director George Amponsah; and the BIFA Winner Next Goal Wins, which was met with critical acclaim, obtaining a score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. In 2020, Roger composed a beautiful score to accompany the documentary profile of the veteran Swedish director, Roy Andersson, Being A Human Person.
Roger’s latest work includes the Channel 4 factual drama series Partygate, exploring the story of Covid from inside 10 Downing Street, which debuted in October; the 4-part Netflix Original docu- series Till Murder Do Us Part: Soering vs. Haysom, exploring the new insights surrounding the true crime case of Jens Söring’s conviction of the 1985 murders of his then-girlfriend’s parents, streaming from 1st November; and upcoming horror-thriller feature What Remains Of Us, starring Kit Harington.
In 2016, Roger released his debut solo album Overview Effect via Cognitive Shift. The album was celebrated by critics with BBC 6 Music’s Mary Anne Hobbs describing the album as “mind-blowing”. Multiple tracks from the album have been synced widely across various artistic platforms including The Last Race, the feature film by acclaimed American visual artist and filmmaker Michael Dweck, premiering at Sundance Film Festival in 2018. Roger’s second album, Ecosystems, was released in June 2023.
Having built up an impressive portfolio as a composer for fringe theatre, short films, and contemporary dance, Roger collaborated with prodigy dancer Dickson Mbi in partnership with the Akran Khan Dance Company on numerous choregraphies including DUENDEwhich premiered at Sadlers Wells in 2018, and most recently ENOWATE which was presented at the Barbican Theatre in late 2021 and was performed at Sadler’s Wells in October 2022.
Roger Goula trained as classical guitarist in Barcelona and graduated in music composition from Goldsmiths College, London. He specialised in film music obtaining an MA from the National Film and Television School and studied composition with pioneering English composer Michael Finnissy.