Former SPCO cellist caught with 113 pounds of marijuana

Recreational marijuana use is legal in Oregon — but it's not this legal.

David Huckaby, a Juilliard-trained cellist who played with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra from 2009 to 2014, was arrested on Friday near Bly, Ore. — where he remains jailed.

After stopping the 33-year-old cellist for speeding, authorities found Huckaby in possession of 113 pounds of marijuana — an amount estimated to be worth over $200,000.

A native of Georgia, Huckaby trained at both the New England Conservatory and the Juilliard School. In 2009, he visited MPR's studios along with his fellow SPCO newcomer Sunmi Chang. Hear their performance, and conversation with John Birge, from that visit.

This is the second recent example of a former Minnesota professional musician caught up in dramatic circumstances in the Beaver State. David Wright, a violinist who formerly played with the Minnesota Orchestra, lost all his possessions in a car fire last month in Portland.

Wright now tells Norman Lebrecht that he has "no interest in more orchestral work: 30 years of the privilege performing in the back of an ensemble as fine as the Minnesota Orchestra left me tired of the relative mediocrity of my own sound. I am now a writer, singer, and traveller, and continue to enjoy my life, very thankful to have escaped the fire just in time. I don’t need anyone’s help."


Photo: Oregon State Police

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