Fabián was born in Málaga (Santander, Colombia) His first contacts with music took place at the age of fifteen with a punk rock band made up of friends from school. After abandoning his studies of pure physics, he decided to focus on the interpretation of the electric guitar during a period that allowed him to strengthen strong ties with classical music, to the point of directing him to begin his studies in composition at the Universidad Javeriana with Guillermo Gaviria, Diego Vega and Carlos Julio Ramirez.

He has received several awards throughout his career. In 2008 he won the National Music Award of the Ministry of Culture with the work Crujía, for brass quintet, and the following year was declared winner of the Composition Award Casa de las Americas in Cuba with the piece Bestiario, for string quartet. Likewise, in 2009 he won the composition contest Ciudad de Bogotá with his work Balada del tiempo perdido, for voice and chamber ensemble, the Iberoamerican Bicentennial of Independence Prize with the work Fragores de gloria, for large orchestra, and won the main prize of the XXX International Frederic Mompou Prize of Barcelona with the piece Eco en mar de fondo, for flute and string trio. In the Havana ́s competition, the jury decided to award him first prize for: his meticulous writing, his very successful structure and for a transcendent expressiveness of the Latin American soul.

In 2010, some of his compositions were premiered in Barcelona, Boston and Bogotá, and he was a finalist in the International German III Composition Award with the work And Hints and Ripples and Shafts for chamber orchestra. In 2011 he won third place in the Musical Composition Award in Seinäjoki (Finland) with his work When the End turns Around, for chamber ensemble. That same year his work Danzas mentirosas (Lying Dances) was premiered, a commission made by the Cartagena International Music Festival.

In 2012 he traveled to Montevideo to study composition and history of Latin American music with maestros Coriún Aharonián and Graciela Paraskevaídis.

In 2013 he took part as tiplista and composer of La Churumband, a popular music project with marked influences from Colombian folklore and, that same year, he received the Scholarship for the creation of contemporary music awarded by the Ministry of Culture of Colombia with the project Vértice, for tiple, bandola and guitar.

In 2016 is honored by the Bank of the Republic of Colombia with a concert and a recording of a monographic album, the music of Fabián Roa, portraits of a composer.

In 2019 he composes the music for the video documentary Breathing New Life. Documentary about the ascent to three of the highest mountains in Bolivia.

Several of his works have been published in different recordings and currently focuses on the study of electronic music and new sound resources, as well as the composition of pedagogical works where noise takes the leading role through various sound textures.