Roland Gaedtgens

After completing his military service in 1984, Roland began studying business economics. He also completed the NIMA-A and NIMA-B programs. However, he soon found himself as a pianist in a band that would go on to musically accompany artists such as Jeroen van der Boom, Karin Bloemen, Guus Meeuwis, Berget Lewis, and even Queen Beatrix and her sisters during the wedding of Prince Maurits and Marilene. During this period, he also started working in a recording studio and developed his skills as a composer, producer, and songwriter for television and online commercials. This led to a collaboration with Freshbeat Studio in Amsterdam and EMI Records, through which his soundtracks were soon featured in American television shows.

In the commercial music scene, he wrote for many major brands, including Fanta, Coca-Cola, Samsung, MTV, ING, Grolsch, Halfords, McDonald's, Oil of Olay, and RTL. Additionally, he wrote, produced, and/or arranged music, demos, and lyrics for artists such as Glennis Grace, Wolter Kroes, and Gordon.

In his various roles—composer, lyricist, producer, arranger, and sound engineer—he was then invited by the InHolland Conservatory to develop a new curriculum in response to the rise of computer-based music production and software synthesizers. This led to the creation of the E-Musician program. Roland then spent four years as a principal lecturer in Sound for Visual Media.

After these four years, he decided to pursue his passion for photography and began studying at the Photography Academy of Amsterdam. During his studies, he had the opportunity to work in Milan, and from there, his career quickly took off. He worked as a photographer for brands such as McDonald's, HEMA, and Unilever. For Albert Heijn, he photographed all the content for their magazine ‘Allerhande’ and developed over 300 films for the well-known supermarket chain. This led him to establish his own film studio, Liquid Cake Film Productions, where he provides both photography and film production services. He has now worked in this field for over 15 years as a director and cameraman, with clients including Tommy Hilfiger, Rituals, Samsung, Heineken, Deliveroo, Philips, Adidas, VolkerWessels, NS, and Karl Lagerfeld.

In 2023, the documentary Benjamin Feliksdal, The Life Story of a Dutch Dance Master was released. Roland created this documentary together with dancer and choreographer Robin van Zutphen. The documentary has won several awards at various film festivals, including in Toronto, Los Angeles, Barcelona, Athens, and New York. Additionally, it reached the finals at the 2024 Cannes Film Awards and the London Director Awards.

Last update: 21-08-2024