In late January, while the Seattle Symphony was emerging from a national publicity headache and breathing a sigh of relief after a personal injury suit brought forth by on of its violinists was dismissed, the local institution received one more piece of bad news: principal cellist, musical wunderkind and media darling Joshua Roman announced that, at the end of the 2007-2008 season, he will be leaving the Symphony to pursue a career as a solo cellist. In an email sent to friends and members of the press on January 30, Roman stated that, “As much as I have loved my time in Seattle, it is very important for me to keep a strong focus and commitment to my goals, and the foremost musical goal I have is to become the best cellist I can be. To that end, I will be doing tons of traveling over the next years, listening to many great musicians, practicing hard, performing a lot, and doing other cool stuff too.” Aside from that, Roman was in media blackout mode, until we got to him. Sitting at a SoDo cafe last month, Roman explained to Sound a little more about his reasons for leaving. On the eve of Roman’s final performance at Town Hall (he has served as the venue’s artistic director for the 2007-2008 season), Sound presents an excerpt from that conversation.
SEATTLE SOUND: Tell me about the moment you decided you were going to leave. And how long was it on your mind whether or not you would stick around after this year?
JOSHUA ROMAN: You know, I always knew that this wasn’t going to be somewhere that I stayed. In fact, when I got here, from the very first time, people were mentioning … people were coming up to me and saying, “How long are you going to stay here?” Maybe three or four instances people would say, “Oh I’m glad you’re going to be here. I’m really excited. You can have a tenure like Ray Davis; you could be here for 40 years.” Maybe three or four people said that, but I think it was very clear to everyone and to myself that this was a thing that I was going to do for a while and then I have other things to do.
So that decision wasn’t so much whether I was going to leave, it was when I was going to leave. It sort of came about more from outside opportunities than anything else, from getting busy from the second that I got here, and things happening outside of the symphony. Very exciting things, more and more stuff, more traveling, more playing other places, and eventually it just got to the point where I was thinking, “If I stay here another year I’m either going to miss so much orchestra that I’m going to get fired or I’m going to miss out on so many of these opportunities that I’m going to be very unhappy and I’m going to start to lose momentum.” I don’t remember exactly when it was that I decided I was going to leave this year. It was just a moment of clarity. “Now’s the time.” So, it was pretty easy.
SS: Was it liberating after you made the decision?
JR: It was. And it was especially liberating when I told the orchestra. When I could finally say it. Because even after I made the decision there was just … I was getting from sometime last season, people asking me all the time, “When are you going to leave? I hear your leaving. I heard you left.” So much!
SS: Do you think you were putting a vibe out there that you didn’t want to be with the symphony anymore?
JR: No. Well, maybe. I don’t think I was purposefully sending that vibe but I just think that the things that I was doing and the places that I was and all the traveling I was doing, are just pretty clear: I’m interested in outside stuff. And a lot of people in the Symphony aren’t. The typical symphony player does some outside stuff but is very like … say if I wanted to have a family right now and have a house, I would focus on work and look for houses and spend more time cleaning my room. Or doing hobbies and stuff. And I think that’s just what it was. People saw other stuff happening and recognized that as … I don’t think I put out any sort of feeling or emotional vibe, I think it was a result of people seeing everything what I was doing and it was two and two.
SS: So how did they react?
JR: Very well. I’ve gotten so much support. It’s been great. I was a little worried at first. I didn’t know what to think. I had been stalling so long on telling people, I had been diverting the question for months. People would just point blank ask, “So I hear you are going to leave the symphony, when’s that? Is it true?” And me just being like, “Oh you know … I don’t know.” And me finally getting to be able to say that … I think a lot of people, people would say that they wish I would stay a little longer, but they were very congratulatory at the same time. “It’s good. This is the right move. This is what you should be doing. I’m glad to see that you’re doing well.” So it’s good.
SS: Are you taking a pay cut by doing this?
JR: Yeah, it’s a pay cut. It’s a big pay cut. But I don’t know. This last couple of years I had ridiculous amounts of student loans and I paid those off, but like everything I made went into paying student loans. I don’t think I’ll be spending any less. I’m a big fan of the whole “money is made to use” idea. I want to save money for practical purposes, but I don’t think that my salvation lies in having a ginormous bank account. Especially if I’m not using it, why do I have it? I’m going to be making less money, but I think I’m going to be doing about the same amount of stuff that costs money that I’m doing now. And I’m saving what I can now just for that, to make sure that I have a little bit of a cushion to take off from.
Joshua Roman will perform “Duo” Saturday, May 11, at Town Hall. For more information, go here.
For a more in-depth look at what the future holds for Joshua Roman, check out the June issue of Sound, which will be on newsstands the last week of May.
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