OVIDIU MARINESCU (2026 session 1 only)
www.marinescu.com
Ovidiu Marinescu is internationally recognized as a cellist, composer, conductor, and educator. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Weill Hall, Merkin Hall (New York), the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Holywell Room in Oxford, Oriental Art Center in Shanghai, and has appeared as soloist with the London Symphony, New York Chamber Symphony, the National Radio Orchestra of Romania, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Helena, Great Falls, Portsmouth, and Newark Symphonies, Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Philharmonic, Limeira Symphony in Brazil, Orquesta de Extremadura in Spain, and most of the professional orchestras in his native Romania. The album London Cello Connection features Marinescu and London Symphony Orchestra in eight newly commissioned cello concertos by North American composers.
Marinescu’s compositions have been performed in Romania, China, Brazil, Bulgaria, Russia, Guatemala, Montenegro, and across the United States. Parma Recordings included “I’m All Ears” for solo cello on the album Moto Celeste and “Rorrim no. 1. A Sort Essay” on the album Through Glass. The piano trio “The Journey” is the center piece of the Navona Records album A Grand Journey, in a spectacular performance by Trio Casals. Marinescu has been composer-in-residence for the International Chamber Music Festival in Guatemala City and the 7th edition of the International String Encounters in Limeira, Brazil. His Concerto for Two Cellos, String, and Percussion was co-commissioned by seven orchestras in 2020 with funding from West Chester University. His clarinet quintet entitled The Seven Dreams of Frida Kahlo, is dedicated to renowned clarinetist Ricardo Morales and The Dali Quartet and saw its premiere at the American Romanian Festival in Michigan with members of the Detroit Symphony. Marinescu’s compositional style is eclectic, and his works are often inspired by ethnic music from around the world, such as in his recent orchestral work “The Day I Started,” premiered in May 2024 by Westchester Chamber Soloists (NY), in which he is using Scandinavian tunes.
Mr. Marinescu’s ongoing MOTO series, developed with Parma Recordings, has been praised as “bold and expressive” (Gramophone Magazine) and “tight, musical, technically virtuosic” (The Whole Note). Since its launch in 2012, the MOTO series has premiered works by close to fifty composers in both recordings and performance at Carnegie Hall. Recent highlights include the debut with Wuhan Philharmonic in China, solo engagements with Cleveland Philharmonic, Helena Symphony, Braşov Philharmonic in Romania, and Berks Sinfonietta in PA, 3 new albums of music for cello and piano for Parma Recordings, and a return engagement with Westchester Chamber Soloists as conductor and composer. Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall hosted Marinescu in performances with Trio Casals and a cello/piano recital with Noreen Cassidy-Polera.
Marinescu has more than 25 album releases for Parma Recordings and Cambria as a cellist, conductor, or chamber musician, and several recordings released independently. The recording of the Arthur Gottschalk Sonata for Cello and Piano has received the Gold Medal at the Global Music Awards for 2014, as well as a repeated Gold Medal for his recordings with Trio Casals of works by Joanna Estelle in 2023. The recording of “The Sea Knows” by Michael Kurek made its debut as no. 1 on the Classical Billboard list in July 2017. His first recording – “Fiesta Latina” – was followed by a recording of the complete Miaskovsky cello works with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra and pianist Kenneth Boulton released by Cambria. The complete Bach Cello Suites, released by Navona Records, have been acclaimed by the international press for their vibrancy and stylistic sparkle. His chamber music activities center around Trio Casals, a group which he co-founded in 1996.
Equally successful as a conductor, Marinescu has worked with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra in Moscow, the Chamber Orchestra of the Romanian National Radio, “New Russia” State Orchestra, the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia, the Bacau, Craiova, Ploiesti, Botosani, Targu Mures, and Braşov Philharmonics in Romania, Filarmonica de Gaia in Portugal, Orquesta de Extremadura in Spain, the Helena, Newark, and Southeastern PA Symphony Orchestras, as well as Vidin Sinfonietta in Bulgaria.
Marinescu is cello professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania as well as founder and Artistic Director of the International Musicians Academy, an intensive program for aspiring artists. The Academy collaborates with Sinfonietta Vidin, a full-time professional orchestra in Bulgaria, and Braşov Philharmonic in Romania.
More information can be found at www.marinescu.com