“Roman’s extraordinary performance combines the expressive control of Casals with the creative individuality and virtuoso flair of Hendrix himself.” – The Guardian

Now a solid Cliburn Concerts favorite, Joshua Roman is a cellist, composer, and curator whose performances embrace musical styles from Bach to Radiohead. Before setting off on his unique path as a soloist, he was the Seattle Symphony’s principal cellist—a job he began at just 22 years of age and left only two years later. He has since become renowned for his genre-bending repertoire and wide-ranging collaborations. Joshua was named a TED Senior Fellow in 2015; his Main Stage TED Talks/Performances garnered millions of views. His endeavors outside the concert hall have taken him to Uganda with his violin-playing siblings, where they played chamber music in schools, HIV/AIDS centers, and displacement camps. He’ll perform two distinctive concerts in April: one traditional recital at the Kimbell, as well as a more casual experience at The Post at River East.

With Conor Hanick, piano

Program

BEETHOVEN Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 3 in A Major, op. 69

intermission

MASON BATES Hymn for the Future

ANDREA CASARRUBIOS Silbo

JAMES LEE III Ekah

CAROLINE SHAW Shenandoah

BARTÓK Romanian Folk Dances

ABOUT JOSHUA ROMAN, CELLO

Joshua Roman is a cellist, accomplished composer, and curator whose performances embrace musical styles from Bach to Radiohead. Before setting off on his unique path as a soloist, he was the Seattle Symphony’s principal cellist–a job he began at just 22 years of age and left only two years later. He has since become renowned for his genre-bending repertoire and wide-ranging collaborations. He was named a TED Senior Fellow in 2015. Joshua’s live performance of the complete Six Suites for Solo Cello by J.S. Bach on TED’s Facebook page garnered nearly one million live viewers, with millions more for his Main Stage TED Talks/Performances, including an improvisational performance with Tony-winner/MacArthur Fellowship recipient Bill T. Jones and East African vocalist Somi.

A Gramophone review of his 2017 recording of Aaron Jay Kernis’s Cello Concerto (written for Joshua) proclaimed that “Roman’s extraordinary performance combines the expressive control of Casals with the creative individuality and virtuoso flair of Hendrix himself.” Recent highlights include performing standard and new concertos with the Colorado, Detroit, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, and San Francisco Symphonies. In addition to his other orchestral appearances, he has collaborated with the JACK, St. Lawrence, and Verona Quartets, and brings the same fresh approach to chamber music projects to his own series, Town Music at Town Hall Seattle.

Joshua Roman’s adventurous spirit has led to collaborations with artists outside the music community, including creating On Grace with Tony-nominated actor Anna Deavere Smith. His compositions are inspired by sources such as the poetry of Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy K. Smith, and the musicians he writes for, such as the JACK Quartet, violinist Vadim Gluzman, and conductor David Danzmayr. His endeavors outside the concert hall have taken him to Uganda with his violin-playing siblings, where they played chamber music in schools, HIV/AIDS centers, and displacement camps.

ABOUT CONOR HANICK, PIANO

Pianist Conor Hanick is regarded as one of his generation’s most inquisitive interpreters of music new and old, whose “technical refinement, color, crispness and wondrous variety of articulation benefit works by any master” (The New York Times). He has recently been presented by the Gilmore Festival, New York Philharmonic, Caramoor, Cal Performances, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the Park Avenue Armory, and performed with the Seattle Symphony, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Iowa, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. A fierce advocate for the music of today, he has premiered over 200 pieces and collaborated with composers ranging from Pierre Boulez, Kaija Saariaho, and Steve Reich, to the leading composers of his generation, including Nico Muhly, Caroline Shaw, Tyshawn Sorey, Matthew Aucoin, and Christopher Cerrone. In the 2022–2023 season, Conor premieres a new piano concerto by composer Samuel Carl Adams with the San Francisco Symphony and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen; appears with soprano Julia Bullock at the Aix en Provence Festival in Olivier Messiaen’s Harawi; and performs recitals at the Library of Congress, Hancher Auditorium, Ensemble Music Society of Indianapolis, the 92nd Street Y, and elsewhere. As a member of the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), he served as an artistic director of the Ojai Festival in 2022. He is the director of solo piano at the Music Academy of the West and serves on the faculty of the Peabody Institute, Mannes College, and The Juilliard School.

GENERAL CONCERT INFORMATION

Patrons must be 8 years of age or older to attend Cliburn Concerts.

For questions about ticketing please contact the Bass Hall Box Office at 817.212.4280.

The on-site will call and box office will open in the Renzo Piano Pavilion lobby one hour prior to concert time.

For information on parking, please visit kimbellart.org

Photography and recording are strictly prohibited.

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By attending any event, you accept the risk of being exposed to, contracting, and/or spreading COVID-19.
By attending any event, you agree to notify the Cliburn if you become aware of actual or potential exposure of COVID-19 to other attendees, and the Cliburn may notify attendees of such exposure.