IMMUNITY | NEW YORK TIMES - FEATURE

A Virtuoso Cellist’s Painstaking Path From Long Covid Back to the Stage

For over three years, long Covid has presented Joshua Roman with health challenges — and has indelibly shaped the music he makes.
By: Pam Belluck | August 2024

He decided to record an album, to be released this fall, incorporating a range of genres, from Bach to modern classical composers to a version of “Dust in the Wind” by the rock band Kansas with Mr. Roman playing guitar.

“This is the first time that I’m putting together something of this breadth and depth,” he said. “Before, I wasn’t ready to be that vulnerable. I would have been too afraid of what people would say. Now, this is what it is, say what you want.”

The album title — “Immunity” — reflected the “experience of Covid and wanting to be immune from this,” as well as the idea that the world is interconnected and people need to depend on each other.

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He has tried to adapt his performance schedule not just to his medical reality, but to the musical reinvention that long Covid has ignited.

He continues to play classical repertoire with orchestras, but also performs selections from “Immunity” with dancers and other creative artists. He has incorporated the album’s music into workshops and events with the Juilliard School and gives free “Immunity” concerts for patients who attend long Covid clinics.

“I am trying to really remind myself that you don’t know what comes later,” he said. “Now is all you ever have.”