Mihai Tetel began his musical studies in his native Romania at the famed George Enescu Music School. Settling in Canada in 1979, he graduated in 1984 from the University of Toronto as an honors student of the celebrated virtuoso Vladimir Orloff. He earned a master's degree from The Juilliard School in 1986, and a Professional Studies Diploma from the Mannes School in New York in 1988. His principal cello teachers have included Lorne Munroe and Timothy Eddy.

Tetel was a winner of the 1987 Artists International Competition which awarded as its prize a New York recital debut at Weill Hall of Carnegie Hall. Prior competition triumphs include First Prize in the Koussevitsky Competition (1984), Montreal Symphony Competition (1983), Canadian Music Competition (1982), and the Toronto Symphony Concerto Competition (1980).

He has appeared as soloist with the Montreal Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Edmonton Symphony, Muncie Symphony, Sao Paulo Symphony (Brazil), Thessaloniki Symphony (Greece), and the Odeion Wind Ensemble (Holland), collaborating with conductors such as Charles Dutoit, Andrew Davis, Christopher Zimmerman, Edward Cumming, and Boris Brott.

As a recitalist, he has performed in Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Hungary, Japan, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States.

Prior to his appointment at the Hartt School, Tetel has been on the faculty of Ball State University and the Glenn Gould Professional School of the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, and has served as Director of the Alberta College Conservatory of Music in Edmonton.

He has been invited to give master classes at the University of Michigan, Boston University, Southern Methodist University, Oberlin Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, University of Arizona, DePaul University, Cleveland Institute of Music, Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory, St. Olaf College, University of Minnesota, Lawrence University, Indiana University String Academy, McGill University, Camp Encore, Meadowmount, Royal Academy (Seoul, Korea), and Shuan-Yin International Festival (Taiwan).

Since 1992 Tetel has directed  ARIA International Summer Academy, a highly successful program which offers intensive, professional training to young musicians from all over the world.

He has released four CD's on the Tristan label, and one CD on the Beneficence label. Tetel has also collaborated on several CD's with cellist Ofra Harnoy for the RCA-Red Seal label.

His performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio, Indiana Public Radio, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

As chamber musician, Tetel has collaborated with the Orion Quartet; violinists James Buswell, Lynn Chang, Ilya Kaler, Bayla Keyes, Mikhail Kopelman, Oleh Krysa, Anton Miller, Felicia Moye, David Russell, Hagai Shaham, Janet Sung, Keng-Yuen Tseng, and Peter Zazofsky; violists Atar Arad, Victoria Chiang, Patricia McCarty, Rita Porfiris,  Marcus Thompson, and Rebecca Young; cellists Lynn Harrell, clarinetist Kenneth Grant, pianists Edmund Battersby, Robert McDonald, Yong-Hi Moon, Robert Palmer, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Daniel Shapiro, and Barry Snyder; flutists Bonita Boyd, Amy Porter, Carol Wincenc, and Eugenia Zuckerman.  He is a member of the New York-based chamber music group Ensemble Respiro, and cellist of the Hartt String Quartet.