Born on September 30th, 1956, at Vidra-Ilfov county, Marin Cazacu studied the cello at the Dinu Lipatti Music Lyceum in Bucharest with professor Ion Urcan, and afterwards at the Ciprian Porumbescu State Conservatoire with the well known professors Serafim Antropov and Aurel Niculescu. Furthermore, he improved his musical skills in Weimar with professor Mezö Lászlo and was the assistant of maestro Radu Aldulescu in the latter’s master classes in Costineşti and Sinaia. Marin Cazacu is a laureate of the international competitions held in Geneva, Markneukirchen, Leipzig, Bologna, Belgrade.
Since 1983, he has been a soloist of the George Enescu Philharmonic and has carried out an intense activity both in Romania and all over Europe, Asia and the two Americas, under the baton of a number of outstanding conductors: Ghennadi Rojdestvenski, Sergiu Comissiona, Lu Jia, Nanse Gum, Cristian Mandeal, Horia Andreescu, Antoni Ros Marba, Mendi Rodan, Misha Katz, Jean Périsson. He also performed as a member of different chamber music ensembles in the company of prestigious artists such as Vladimir Orlov, Valentin Gheorghiu, Radu Aldulescu, Mihaela Martin, Mirel Iancovici, Ilia Grubert, Jeremy Menuhin. Moreover, he is a member of the Pro Arte Trio (Trio in Residence at the Romanian Atheneum Concert Hall in Bucharest) and has contributed to the Voces Quartet.
Starting 1992, he has also worked as a professor at the Bucharest National University of Music, his students successfully asserting themselves in the Romanian and foreign concert halls. In 1998, he founded the Cellissimo Quartet together with Alexandra Guţu, Răzvan Suma and Olga Mănescu. Moreover, together with his students, he performed in recitals including 8 up to 12 cellos as part of the Violoncellissimo ensemble.
In 1999, Marin Cazacu set up the International Festival Enescu and the music of the world held every summer in Sinaia on the eve of great musician’s birthday (August 19th, 1881). For the organisation of this festival and the setting up of the first national youth orchestra (the Romanian Youth Orchestra under Cristian Mandeal’s baton), he was rewarded (in 2008) with the Award for the Project of the year by VIP and Actualitatea Muzicală magazines.
In 2004, he was granted the Meritul Cultural (Cultural Merit) Order with the Chevalier degree, while in 2006, he obtained the title of Doctor of Music with Summa cum laude, for the thesis entitled Cello concertos in the Romanian musical creation from Constantin Dimitrescu to Pascal Bentoiu.
His recordings for Electrecord, Olympia, BMG and AIX Records are a definite evidence of the qualities of this „excellent musician” as Ghennadi Rojdestvenski has called him.
Marin Cazacu plays a Lorenzo Ventapane cello (1820).
