Marza Merophi Wilks is a senior at Ithaca High School. She started playing cello when she was five, studying for ten years at Ithaca Talent Education with Christine Lowe-Diemecke. For the last five years, she has worked with John Haines-Eitzen (Cornell). In the fall of 2008, she began studying with Elizabeth Simkin (Ithaca College). Marza has studied piano with Kathy Hansen for the past eight years and has sung in the Ithaca Community School of Music and Art choir for ten years.
Marza has played in orchestras since she was six years old. In 2002, she was a member of the Suzuki Youth Orchestra of the Americas, which met in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2003 she took part in the 7th American Cello Congress Orchestra, in Phoenix, Arizona. She has played in NYSSMA Junior Area All State, Area All-State, and Conference All-State Orchestras. In 11th grade, Marza was principal cellist in the Syracuse Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Marza was first runner-up in the 2008 Hertzog Concerto Competition and winner of the 2008 Syracuse Symphony Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition. In 2009, she received an Honorable Mention in the Lee Strebel Memorial Competition and her trio, the Vesna Trio, won the Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music Youth Chamber Music Competition. She often performs for church services, benefits, and at retirement communities. She is a volunteer in the high-school's pre-school program and her non-musical hobby is fencing. Marza plans to pursue a career as a professional cellist.
Marza would like to thank the Hertzog Competition and also the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes for the opportunity to solo with a professional orchestra.