Stellar music by stellar performer Joshua Roman

Inside the toasty Town Hall, bottles of water and baskets of paper fans awaited the overheated crowds who showed up to hear Joshua Roman play three cello concertos with the Northwest Sinfonietta.

Never mind the ambient temperature: The music-making alone was hot enough to require the use of a fan. Roman, the 23-year-old principal cellist of the Seattle Symphony, already proved his solo mettle with an unaccompanied recital last March that sold out Town Hall. This past weekend, he was back in what amounted to two marathon concerto performances (the first was Saturday evening), a brilliant programming idea that demonstrated conclusively that Roman is a man for all musical seasons.

With conductor Christophe Chagnard and the Tacoma-based Northwest Sinfonietta, Roman sailed through concertos from three different centuries: Haydn's D Major (18th century), Schumann's A Minor (19th) and the Shostakovich No. 1 (20th). He played an instrument that always seems to bring out his best: the "Gudgeon" Montagnana cello from David Fulton's collection of rare strings.

Chagnard and the orchestra gave Roman fine, well-balanced support in the Haydn, which showcased his poetic approach and his big sound in the phenomenal first-movement cadenza. The finale was all exuberance and good humor.

Almost as praiseworthy was the more romantic Schumann, with powerful high notes that never sounded thin, and a cadenza that raised eyebrows throughout the crowd.

Roman saved the best for last, however, in a positively incendiary performance of the great Shostakovich First with the orchestra in commendable form. The middle movement, always an interpretive challenge, emerged as Roman's deeply personal statement, meltingly beautiful. No technical demand was beyond this extraordinary young cellist; how lucky that a great set of fingers is also accompanied by a level of musical artistry achieved by few.

Seattle music lovers, practice saying "I knew him when." Joshua Roman has a starry future ahead.