Roger Fratena joined the Dallas Symphony in 1971, the same year he graduated from Oberlin Conservatory with a Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Music Education and a Master of Music Education degree. Fratena is a bass instructor at Richland and Eastfield Community Colleges in Dallas and has taught at Texas Tech University. He has been Principal Bassist of the AIMS Orchestra in Austria, and currently performs in the "Music in the Mountains Summer Festival" in Durango, Colorado. As a composer and member of ASCAP, two of his ragtime pieces have been performed by the Dallas Symphony and other professional orchestras.