Catalin Petrescu was born in Busteni, a small mountain village in Romania. When he was nine years old, he went to the Brasov Music and Arts school where he studied cello. Besides playing classical music, he was always interested in Romanian folk music. Catalin started playing upright bass during his time in the Romanian Navy orchestra.

In 1990 he emigrated to the United States, where he continued to play Romanian folk music with a Transylvania band until 2014. In 2018 he joined Harmonia, an Eastern European music ensemble. He is also a cellist with the Akron Pops Orchestra.