The Music Department is thrilled to announce that David Bjella will be joining the faculty as Professor of Cello this fall. Bjella was previously Professor of Cello at Stetson University for more than 20 years.
A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, cellist David Bjella has an extensive, multi-faceted career as a teacher, chamber musician, orchestral player and soloist. While teaching at Stetson University, he is also Co-Principal of the IRIS Orchestra in Memphis Tennessee for the last 18 years under the direction of Michael Stern and was a member of the Inman Piano Trio for 13 years. Professor Bjella is one of the featured IRIS chamber musicians for the Naxos-released CD, “Music of Stephen Hartke,” which was chosen by the New York Times as a Top Ten Classical Recording. He has also served as Visiting Associate Professor of Cello at Florida State University, Adjunct Professor of Cello at UCF and has taught in the Valade Master Teacher program at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan.
During his summer semesters, he has been a part of the faculty at the Orfeo Festival in Vipiteno, Italy; the Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory in Steamboat Springs, Colorado; the Bellingham Festival in Washington State; the Quartz Mountain Festival in Oklahoma; the Interlochen Music Center in Michigan; the Black Hills Chamber Soloists, the Cedar Valley Chamber Music Festival in Iowa and the Bay Area Music Festival in St. Petersburg, Florida. Bjella was recently featured as a soloist at the Beaumaris Festival in Wales.
In 2012 Bjella was asked to join Cuerdas de Enlace, a performing and teaching festival in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. As soloist, Bjella has appeared with many regional and college orchestras in the Southeast and Midwest. In addition to his orchestral work with the IRIS Orchestra, he has also been Principal Cellist of the Florida Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Southwest Florida Symphony, the Annapolis Symphony, a member of the cello section in Cincinnati, Tampa (Associate Principal Florida Orchestra) as well as a substitute for the Baltimore Symphony. Bjella is an avid sports fan and lives in Central Florida with his wife Traci Ash-Bjella, and their two dogs, Sandy and Moxie.