28 November 2010
On his seventh birthday, Romanian-born Marica first arrived in the US at age 18 to
Mihai Marica of Local 400 (Hartford, CT)
Mihai Marica received a cello. Twenty years later, he is a
world-renowned virtuoso musician who
Dream Comes
has performed at Carnegie Hall, was interim
principal cellist of the New Haven Symphony
Orchestra during the 2008-2009 season, and
has become a familiar face to classical music
True for
aficionados.
“I was very sure, before I started, that I
wanted to be a cellist,” Marica says. “I never
questioned that. I guess I liked it and I never
thought of doing anything else. So far, it’s
Virtuoso Cellist
worked out.”
These days, Marica plays in New York
City with Amphion String Quartet, which
includes violinists Katie Hyun and David
Southorn, both members of Local 400. They
recently won first prize in the Sixth Annual
International Hugo Kauder Competition for
string quartets in New Haven, Connecticut,
and two awards at the fourth Plowman
Chamber Music Competition in Columbia,
Missouri.
Born in Cluj-Napoca, in the heart of scenic
Transylvania, 27-year-old Marica aspired to
grow up like his father, a principal cellist at
Transylvania State Philharmonic. At three
years old, Marica asked his parents for a cello.
His father declined the request until the boy
was old enough to enroll in the city’s music
high school, where he spent 11 years.
Having attended national and international
performances and competitions since first
grade, Marica practiced extensively as a child.
At age 14, he garnered two first place prizes in
the cello category and from the commission
board in the J. F. Dotzauer International Cello
Competition in Dresden, Germany.
Two years later, Marica toured Stuttgart and
Berlin with his high school orchestra. One of
the students’ hosts, Dr. Hannelore Humple,
recorded their final performance and the tape
traveled to Ole Akahoshi, a professor at the
Yale School of Music. It eventually landed in
the hands of legendary teacher Aldo Parisot
of Local 400, who invited Marica to the Banff
Music Festival in Canada, in 1999.
“I met Mr. Parisot and I was completely taken
with him from the beginning, with his teach-
ing and his personality,” Marica says. “I think
I played [Tchaikovsky’s] Rococo Variations
with three days of practice, which at my age,
was a big deal.”
Parisot then made Marica an offer he couldn’t
refuse: to study at Yale School of Music. “My
jaw dropped and my heart went through
the roof,” says Marica. He maintains a close
Mihai Marica of Local 400 (Hartford, CT) fell in love with the cello when he was seven years relationship with his mentor who “has the
old and has been performing worldwide ever since. patience to hear me whenever I need to play
for him.”
attend Southern Connecticut State Univer-
sity, after completing his last two years of
high school in only one year. He obtained
his bachelor’s degree from Southern Con-
necticut in three years and then went on
to Yale. During his time at Yale’s School of
Music, Marica worked with Parisot to pursue
a master’s degree and an artist diploma. Ad-
ditionally, he enriched his list of accolades
with a distinguished first prize and the
audience choice award at the 2006 Dr. Luis
Sigall International Competition in Viña del
Mar, Chile.
This competition opened the door to per-
formances, including one with Hermitage
State Orchestra of St. Petersburg, Russia,
and his Carnegie Hall debut in 2008. Marica
played pieces by Luigi Boccherini, Ludwig
van Beethoven, and a work by contemporary
composer Ezra Laderman at his first Carnegie
Hall performance, and returned to perform
there again later that year.
Although he already has a full schedule of
performances with Amphion String Quartet,
New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and Yale
School of Music faculty members, who invite
him to solo in concertos, Marica finds time to
play in Romania. This year, he performed at
the National Radio and Television in Bucha-
rest with his younger sisters, violinist Lucia
and pianist Angela. Next year, his perfor-
mance with Transylvania State Philharmonic
will showcase a cello concerto that composer
and Southern Connecticut State University
professor Mark Kuss wrote for Marica.
The young cellist values his collaborations
with contemporary composers, including
Augusta Read Thomas, having played her
Ritual Incantations, a piece for solo cello
and orchestra, as soloist with New Haven
Symphony Orchestra in 2009.
Marica joined the AFM when he began
working in New Haven. “[The membership
is] definitely useful. Especially in these times,
when it’s pretty difficult for musicians, the
union has a lot of work to do,” says Marica
who was an active member of two additional
locals, Local 186 (Waterbury, CT) and Local
285-403 (New London, CT), when he played
as principal cello with Eastern Connecticut
Symphony Orchestra.
Grateful for his professors’ and family’s guid-
ance and support, Marica considers the cello
a felicitous choice.
“[The cello] is a wonderful medium of
expression,” he says. “You can connect with
the audience and you’re not using words
to describe feelings, but you are describing
feelings. It’s a great pleasure to be able to do
that.”