Alexandra Gardner | Building Noises

photo by Jeremy Sawatzky

Dubbed a “Classical Rock Star” by the press, cellist Joshua Roman has earned a national reputation for performing a wide range of repertoire with an absolute commitment to communicating the essence of the music at its most organic level. Current season engagements include debuts with the Albany, Arkansas, and Santa Barbara Symphonies, the New Philharmonic Orchestra in Illinois, Oklahoma’s Signature Symphony, and Kentucky’s Lexington Philharmonic. In recent seasons he has performed with the Seattle Symphony, where he gave the world premiere of David Stock’s Cello Concerto, as well as with the Symphonies of Edmonton, Quad City, Spokane, and Stamford, and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, among others. In April 2009, Roman was the only guest artist invited to play an unaccompanied solo during the YouTube Symphony Orchestra’s debut concert at Carnegie Hall. An avid chamber music performer, the 25-year-old cellist is Artistic Director of TownMusic, an experimental chamber music series at Town Hall in Seattle.

For more information, please visit www.joshuaroman.com, and www.opus3artists.com

How did you get started playing your instrument, and how did it turn into a career?
My mom and my dad have different versions of the story – my mom says my dad (the cellist) coerced me by explaining the terrors of high pitches from the violin, and the long hours standing up, etc… he says it was my choice. Either way, I’m glad! I just loved it, and as far back as I can remember have wanted to “be a cellist”.

Talk about one of your most satisfying musical performance experiences.
Feb 3rd 2010, in Baltimore, playing the music of Alexandra Gardner!

(Alex interjects: Nooooooo, dude! TOTAL cop-out answer!!!)

What gets you interested in/inspired by/excited about playing a new piece of music?
I really enjoy being able to communicate with the composer, and getting to know them. I think it brings another dimension to the performance when there is a personal relationship which you can draw energy from.

What is your listening “guilty pleasure?”
http://www.myspace.com/fartclops. It’s hilarious and my friend made it.

What projects do you have coming up that we should know about?
I’ve got some collaborative projects that will be rolling out in the next couple of years and I’m very excited about them. Right now the one I’m most involved in is a Sonata commission with my friend Dan Visconti, which will have its first performance in June at Town Hall in Seattle, on the same series which last year commissioned Alex to write a piece that will be on the program in Baltimore!

Please answer: If I were not a musician, I would be a ________, because _________.
Ski Patrol dude, because I love skiing and snow and sunglasses.