Meet Cristian Mӑcelaru

By Tyler M. Secor

Selecting a Music Director

In June 2021, when the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) announced Music Director Louis Langrée would step down after the 2023–24 season, then-President & CEO Jonathan Martin, who retired in February 2025, and the Board of Directors’ Executive Committee had no easy task. They had to find the Orchestra’s 14th Music Director. 

“Choosing the next Music Director is perhaps the most important decision this Orchestra will make in the next 10 years,” remarked Martin. “The Music Director will set the course of the CSO for the next decade or longer, and will be the catalyst for new artistic endeavors, developing the personnel of the Orchestra and interfacing with the Cincinnati community.”

The search for the new Music Director began not by answering the question of who, but by answering the question of what does the Orchestra need from its next leader. “We needed to articulate what it was we were looking for,” recalls Sheila Williams, co-chair of the Music Director Search Committee.

“Long gone are the days when a maestro would just go to the front of the stage, conduct from the podium and that was it,” remarks Elizabeth Freimuth, Principal Horn of the CSO. “The maestro made amazing music, everyone was impressed and the concert ended, and then you’d see them in another week. Now, it’s much more collaborative and the requirements are much, much more.”

Without question, the Orchestra needs a great conductor and a great artistic partner. But what qualities does the Music Director of Cincinnati’s Orchestra need to possess?

“The CSO has to have a great conductor, but we need more,” stated Martin. We need a person who understands the power of music to change lives, to enrich the community and who believes in their heart that this Orchestra is for the entire community.”

To ensure every candidate was weighed against a standard set of criteria, the committee created a position profile that detailed the ideal candidate’s skills and characteristics. At the heart of each requirement was the CSO’s mission “to seek and share inspiration,” and its vision to “be the most relevant orchestra in America.”

Cristian Mӑcelaru

Born in Timișoara, Romania in 1980 to a musical family, Cristian Mӑcelaru was the youngest of 10 children. Like his siblings, Cristian began instrumental lessons early, gravitating toward the violin and quickly excelling.

 “I never considered conducting at that time because my father was a conductor,” said Mӑcelaru. “I was happy playing the violin, and I loved it.”

When he was 9, Mӑcelaru witnessed the violent revolution of December 1989, which toppled the Romanian Communist government. Despite the political events surrounding the beginning of his life, Mӑcelaru remained optimistic. One chance meeting gave Mӑcelaru the opportunity to move to America at 17. 

“An American family was visiting Timișoara to adopt a Romanian child, and I was their teenage guide through the city,” remarked Mӑcelaru. “Of course, I invited them to a concert, and there they suggested I go to summer school in America. So, I did.”

Little did that American family know, their suggestion would change the trajectory of Mӑcelaru’s entire life.

“I enrolled at Interlochen, only to later realize that instead of signing up for the camp, I submitted an application to attend the high school,” laughed Mӑcelaru. “When faced with the acceptance letter awarding me a full scholarship, my family and I decided it was an opportunity of a lifetime.”

After Interlochen High School, he attended the University of Miami in Florida. While in Miami, Mӑcelaru became the youngest concertmaster in the Miami Symphony Orchestra’s history, making his Carnegie Hall debut when he was only 19. Mӑcelaru completed his post-graduate studies in violin and conducting at Rice University in Houston.

In 2019, Mӑcelaru became an American citizen, holding dual citizenship with Romania. “I was — I still am — living the American dream.” said Mӑcelaru.

Mӑcelaru + CSO: A Match

This is a new chapter for Cristian (or “Cristi” as he prefers to be called) Mӑcelaru and the culmination of decades of music-making with orchestras and festivals around the world — including the Orchestre National de France, WDR Sinfonieorchester in Germany, George Enescu Festival and Competition in Romania, and the Interlochen Center for the Arts World Youth Symphony Orchestra and Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in the United States. 

“Cristian Mӑcelaru has got it all. He has experience conducting the core repertoire, and he has new music experience, which is critical for our Orchestra’s survival,” remarks Patrick Schleker, Principal Timpani. “Also, Mӑcelaru values and understands the importance of music education and musical advocacy, which are the keys to any orchestra’s future. He’s really got everything we need.”

 “An orchestra picks a music director just as much as a music director picks an orchestra,” says Mӑcelaru. The moment he found out he was being considered for the CSO’s next Music Director, he and his wife Cheryl immediately went into research mode. “I had been in Cincinnati, I had conducted the Orchestra, but a guest conductor’s role and the music director’s role are so different in the sense that the music director is connected and linked to the mission and vision of the organization,” notes Mӑcelaru. “What I discovered in my research was an incredible number of programs, ideas and work that the organization was doing that aligned more and more with the kind of ideas that I had for what an orchestra needs to represent in a community.”

 “Cristi has an intuitive sense of how an orchestra can build relevance in an American community,” remarks Martin. “He understands the power of classical music and orchestra music to bridge divides between differences. And he is authentically interested, almost obsessed with unlocking that asset in an orchestra.” 

Though his values aligned perfectly with the CSO’s, it’s Cristi’s artistry and exceptional musicianship that make him the truest fit. “The electricity, the snap-crackle of the music-making itself that reaches out and grabs you,” observed Martin. “He is an exciting music-maker. I’ve heard him conduct a number of orchestras, and Cristi always has that sizzle. It’s like sticking your finger in the wall outlet.”