Cellist Joshua Roman Releases Debut Album, “Immunity”

Released on Bright Shiny Things, Roman’s new album explores his weighty experience of ongoing Long COVID

“Immunity” is the debut solo album of American cellist Joshua Roman released on the Bright Shiny Things label. A musical exploration of his life-altering experience with ongoing Long COVID, the album confronts an illness that almost upended Roman’s career, but also uncovers a connection to what is most important in life.

The album comprises Bach’s Prélude from Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007; Allison Loggins-Hull’s Stolen; Mark Summer’s Julie-O; in manus tuas by Caroline Shaw; and Capriccio per Siegfried Palm by Krzysztof Penderecki. 

More works include all three movements of George Crumb’s Sonata for Solo Cello; Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah; Dust In The Wind by Kansas; plus two of Roman’s own original works, Duet and Immunity.

First catching the coronavirus in 2020, Roman soon found that his body could no longer cope with the exertion of ascending a flight of stairs, let alone playing the cello. 

As he documented his journey battling the illness, he eventually recovered enough to return to performing and presented the works on his debut album in 2023 in a concert at Carnegie Hall.

To purchase and listen to the album, click here.

A native of Oklahoma City, Roman began playing the cello at age three, and gave his first public recital at age 10. He is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Richard Aaron and Desmond Hoebig, the former principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra. 

He has since collaborated with artists across genres and disciplines, including Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, DJ Spooky, Tony-winner/MacArthur Genius Bill T. Jones, the GRAMMY Award-winning East African vocalist Somi, and Tony Award-nominated actor Anna Deavere Smith.

Roman plays an 1830 Giovanni Francesco Pressenda on a generous loan through The Stradivari Society of Chicago.