Cellist Joshua Roman’s ‘Immunity’ Is a Testament of Endurance and Newfound Perspective

By Cliff Hall | From the January/February 2025 issue of Strings

Joshua Roman’s album Immunity (Bright Shiny Things) is a journey of resilience, vulnerability, and self-discovery. Each piece on the album has been carefully chosen to reflect a moment or memory in his ongoing battle with Long Covid. For Roman, these selections embody both the personal and artistic process of recovery—often unexpectedly. Playing familiar music after so much time away from the cello was profoundly moving, reminding him of his deep, essential connection to music.

The recording process was unlike any of Roman’s previous projects, shaped by the unique challenges of Long Covid. For the project, he had to consider both physical and cognitive limits, balancing each recording day with extensive rest. Working in close collaboration with producer Adam Abeshouse, he embraced a slower, more mindful pace, acknowledging the need to preserve his energy and avoid the pitfalls of overexertion. Through this more tempered approach, Roman was able to honor both the artistic and personal demands of Immunity, making it a testament not only to his endurance but also to a newfound perspective on music making and life.

How did you choose the music (as some of it is your own)?

Each piece on Immunity was chosen because it has been important to me in one way or another on my current health journey with Long Covid, and together they make a statement about this moment both personally and artistically.

How do the pieces included represent your journey?

Some pieces—such as the [Suite No. 1 in G major] Prelude by Bach, which opens the album—have been the pieces that I performed at a particular moment in my journey. The Bach was the first music I played after an almost three-month-long break from the cello, full of doubts, and when I finally touched the strings with the Prelude, music I’ve played more than any other in my life, I was brought to tears by the familiar sensation and with it, the realization that I truly need music in my life.

Other pieces—like in manus tuas by Caroline Shaw—were chosen because they have represented something of a practice for me over the last few years. In this case, in manus tuas feels so perfectly suited to the cello and has such a beautiful flow and depth that it’s almost relaxing to play and something gentle on a physical and also mental level. I now see these aspects of music making as just as important as the kind of difficult challenge I used to favor.

How did the recording process differ from your previous projects?

This was my first solo album, the only other one being a recording I made in Japan with collaborators back in 2008. I do imagine it’s different from future projects in that I broke the process up into several chunks of two to three days, and the magnificently sweet Adam Abeshouse not only had me stay with him but helped me stay true to my energy throughout and take as many breaks as necessary.

What limits has Long Covid put on you in the studio?

The main limit is endurance. The drop-off in both physical and cognitive energy is steep, and if I push it, the repercussions carry forward to the next day (this is called Post-Exertional Malaise). I had to not only schedule with this in mind in advance but also to be aware of the signs of an impending “crash” and take breaks to avoid overdoing it. However, in the end, I think that even without Long Covid, this would have been wise and a smart way to get my best in the studio rather than pushing the limits of physical and mental endurance, which is not usually how we get to the greatest musical results.

You mentioned in an interview that Long Covid has been your teacher. What have been some of its lessons?

The biggest lesson so far is prioritizing the most important things. I used to let my anxiety about imperfection keep me from doing things that really matter to me, and looking back, it’s easy to see that I stifled a lot of potential growth by obsessing over things out of my control. Now, I see the necessity of prioritizing on a daily level that which is absolutely the most important. The rest is just details!

What was it like to tour this material; how did audiences respond to you and to the music?

It is so incredibly meaningful to perform this program. This is the first time I’ve actually done proper tours, and though I am taking care to not overload performance days and to get help with everything that is not necessary, in some ways it feels more straightforward than previous years. In the past, I would constantly juggle programs and rarely play the same thing in two cities in a row. Now, I get to focus on depth rather than breadth, and that gives me time to rest and do other things instead of being in a never-ending state of last-minute preparation.

How has the meaning of the word “immunity” changed for you since going through Covid and recording/touring your album?

Great question! For me, “immunity” is a concept that can be taken so many ways. When the title came to me, it was in a swirl of questions about the relationship between the abstract ideas of immunity and perfection. There is, of course, a medical definition, but even then, we have to set limits on the extent of immunity if we are to define it as achievable. In a more general sense of the word, I think about how each of us might be missing the beauty of life by focusing on immunity, perfection, and control.

What have you learned about yourself and your approach to music?

I’ve learned that playing from the heart involves so much more of the body than I realized. My old ideal of a perfect vessel that transmits the composer’s intentions without tainting them is no longer interesting. I love making music, and it is that love that makes it come alive. We all have music inside of us, waiting for permission to burst forth, and my approach now is to focus on developing a healthy and respectful relationship to that inner voice. That means listening to and through all of the sensations my body gives me rather than seeing it as a machine to control.

What are your plans for the future?

Now that I’ve gotten a taste for recording, touring, and team building, I’m super excited to take Immunity as far as it can go while working on phase two of the project. It has already opened so many doors to amazing people, ideas, and institutions and allowed me to start building bridges that I could not have previously imagined. I have also begun touring with Tessa Lark and Edgar Meyer, and it feels so wonderful to be charting a path with them that is new and yet super familiar. It’s important to me that while I explore different modes of connecting through music, I also feed the cello nerd inside of me, so I’ve got something in the works for cellists as well.

Have you sung on previous projects? What about the Kansas song “Dust in the Wind” inspired you to record it?

I have sung live but never on a recording (unless I’ve forgotten about some backup vocals). It’s intimidating, but I can feel that it connects in a way that is important to me and that people receive it with grace. It’s another way of connection through vulnerability. “Dust in the Wind” reminds me of childhood—I learned it on my dad’s guitar when I was a kid. When I was first adjusting to life with Long Covid, I borrowed a friend’s guitar because I discovered that I could lay on a couch playing simple music without taxing my body or my cognition the way the cello did. Not only was it physically and mentally easier for me, I think there was something about the lack of pressure I was putting on myself that made it emotionally more accessible, as well. More than that, I absolutely love the lyrics and their message. It feels like the right way to end such a big artistic and personal statement, the idea that everything passes away and we should never wait to make the most of the things that matter to us.