Cirque du Soleil taps School of Music alum

by Mark McGowan

Brent Roman grew up wanting to join the Cirque du Soleil as a percussionist. He just didn't expect to take the crash course.

Roman, a May graduate of the NIU School of Music, applied for a gig with Cirque in the spring and was waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

Then, a phone call.

"I had pretty much given up," Roman said. "One day, just out of the blue, this guy calls me up from Montreal. A percussionist had injured himself. He said, 'Can you be in Sacramento in two days?' "

Roman flew from Chicago the next day and, the next morning, auditioned for a temporary spot. After impressing the producers and the injured percussionist himself, Roman was whisked downtown to join the musician's union, fitted for a costume and shown the way to the stage for a sound check and dress rehearsal.

His first performance came that night. Fortunately, all the musicians wear earphones.

"I had the band director in one ear," Roman said, "and the percussionist in my other ear, and he was calling out shots to me, sometimes even tapping specific rhythms on my leg."

So began a month-long stay with "Dralion," the Cirque du Soleil show currently playing in Phoenix.

"Dralion" plays on the four elements of earth, wind, fire and water (represented by Indian, African, Asian and classical dancers) as well as focusing on Chinese traditions through acrobats, some of whom are dressed as dragons or lions, providing the show its name.

Roman was one of seven musicians - also included were violin, oboe, keyboards, guitar, bass and drums - working 10 shows a week with Mondays off. He was the only musician to appear on stage (hence the costume) and beat a spotlighted solo each performance on a taiko, a large Japanese drum he pounded with clubs.

It suited him well: As a contract major in the School of Music, Roman designed his own bachelor's degree in percussion performance and composition with an emphasis in world cultures. He concentrated on ethno culture, anthropology and world music, and completed minors in Southeast Asian Studies and International Studies.

Meanwhile, he performed in as many as nine ensembles each semester, won a grant to study the African mbira (sometimes called a thumb piano) and received USOAR funding for a trip to Beijing to research indigenous instruments at the Central Conservatory.

During "Dralion," Roman played percussion instruments from places such as Africa, Cuba and the Middle East. Show producers were pleased Roman already knew the global collection of instruments and their specific uses when we walked into the audition.

"My training made me perfect for this job. I'm also classically trained, which was another plus," said Roman, whose high school was the North Carolina School of the Arts. "Also, half the artists in the group are Chinese. I know how to speak Chinese, although not fluently."

When the show closed in Sacramento and moved on to Arizona, and as the injured percussionist healed, Roman returned to DeKalb and resumed playing percussion for the Modern Dance department and teaching and composing Asian percussion to a group of Taiwanese businessmen in Naperville.

Although he has applied to Blue Man Group and Stomp, Roman is confident his association with the inventive Cirque is not over.

"Cirque fits me," he said. "I'm 22 years old. I just graduated in May. It was my first gig, and my top pick. It was the best way it could happen, better than I had envisioned. There are two more shows opening in Las Vegas, and that's a good opportunity for me."

Show producers also have given Roman encouragement: "They said, 'Now that you've played for Cirque, you've got your foot in the door.' "

More percussion news from the NIU School of Music

11/18/2002