Marza Merophi Wilks, a Peruvian-born cellist and multi-media musician is based in Los Angeles CA. Ms. Wilks has appeared as soloist with Symphony New Hampshire, Genesee Symphony, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Southern Fingerlakes, and the World Civic Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall.. She has toured with the Sphinx Virtuosi, performing in such venues as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.
A semi-finalist of the Sphinx Competition, Marza has a strong passion for community engagement and sharing her music with underrepresented communities. As a part of this mission, Ms. Wilks founded the Peikko Quartet, a group of young and talented Black/LatinX musicians. The Peikko Quartet leads community engagement training seminars at institutions around the country while also presenting free concerts.
Ms. Wilks has played in many orchestras including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and Apollo Orchestra. She is thrilled to be a soloist on the Grammy-Nominated album “Ruggles, Stucky, & Harbison: Orchestral Works” which was peformed by the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic with David Alan Miller as the conductor.
Ms. Wilks enjoys exploring genres outside of classical music. She collaborates regularly with Johan Lenox. Other notable performances include performances at Coachella Music Festival 2019 with multi-instrumentalist and producer Gryffin on the Sahara Stage. She has performed with singer/dancer/playwright Migguel Anggelo in “So Close, Love + Hate,” a show exploring divisiveness, humanity, and hope. While at The Juilliard School and the New England Conservatory, she premiered works by new composers. As part of a string trio, Ms. Wilks was coached by improvisational musician Hankus Netsky on avant-garde composer John Zorn’s piece “All Hallow’s Eve”, which they performed at Jordan Hall in Boston and The Stone in New York City.
Ms. Wilks is a cello teacher at the Renaissance Arts Academy in Los Angeles, a school which brings together a cross-section of the city’s diverse ethnic, economic, and cultural populations in an ensemble-based environment. Their core mission is to use the combined aesthetic disciplines of music and movement as a gateway to academics.
Ms. Wilks graduated with a Masters Degree from The Juilliard School where she studied with Natasha Brofsky. She also holds a Bachelor of Music degree and a Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory, where she was a student of Natasha Brofsky and Paul Katz.
Ms. Wilks plays a cello made in 2007 by Lawrence Wilke.