Ricci gave his first public performance in 1928 at the age of 10 in San Francisco where he played works by Wieniawski and Vieuxtemps.

[6] At the age of 11, he gave his first orchestral performance, playing the Mendelssohn concerto,[7] and soon after he had his highly successful debut at Carnegie Hall.

[8] In the 1930s Ricci studied in Berlin with Georg Kulenkampff, where he learned a "German style" of playing in the tradition of Adolf Busch.

He also performed the world premieres of pieces by many contemporary composers, including the violin concertos by Gottfried von Einem, Carlos Veerhoff and Alberto Ginastera.

Ricci owned many precious instruments, including the Guarneri Del Gesù violin known as the ex-Bronisław Huberman of 1734, a Storioni, a Luiz Bellini, a Curtin & Alf, a David Bague and a couple of Regazzi.

[citation needed] Ricci died of heart failure in August 2012 at his home in Palm Springs, California, aged 94.