Nicholas Mariscal
Cello
A native of Tucson, Arizona, cellist Nicholas Mariscal has been a member of the cello section of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since May of 2023. Beginning in 2021, he held the position of Assistant Principal Cello of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and served as the orchestra’s Acting Principal Cello during the 2023-24 season.
Mariscal has appeared as guest principal cellist with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra on their 2019 tour of South Korea, and has performed as principal cello of the Fjord Cadenza Festival orchestra in Ålesund, Norway. A recent alumnus of the New World Symphony in Miami, Mariscal was a winner of the orchestra’s concerto competition, performing Khachaturian’s Concerto-Rhapsody for cello and orchestra. In 2018, he made his professional solo debut performing the same work with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, he is a top prize winner in the Sphinx, Edith Knox, and Indiana University Latin American Music Center competitions.
As an ardent performer of new and lesser-known music, Mariscal has been involved in dozens of premieres of new works, and has performed extensively as a member of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, the Indiana University New Music Ensemble, and USC’s Thornton EDGE ensemble. A passionate proponent of Latin American music, he has recorded rarely-heard music for unaccompanied cello by 20th and 21st century composers including Osvaldo Golijov, Alberto Ginastera, and Paul Desenne, and is a frequent programmer and performer of music from Latin America. Also an avid chamber musician, Mariscal has performed with esteemed artists including Midori Goto, Jorja Fleezanis, Tamás Varga, Atar Arad, and Frank Almond.
Mariscal received his Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University under the tutelage of Eric Kim, and received a Master of Music degree and a Graduate Certificate from the University of Southern California, where he studied with David Geringas and Ralph Kirshbaum.