David Bjella is Professor of Cello at the UCF School of Performing Arts. A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, cellist David Bjella has an extensive, multi-faceted career as a teacher, chamber musician, orchestral player and soloist. He is 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 Professor of Cello at Stetson University, 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. In the summers, Bjella is a member of the Wintergreen Festival Orchestra in Virginia and teaches in the LEAD Cooperative program. 

A sought-after performer and teacher, Bjella was asked in 2018 to join the Academia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy and the Madeline Island Chamber Music Festival in Wisconsin. He has also been a faculty member at the following festivals: Orfeo Festival in Italy, Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory in Colorado, Bellingham Festival in Washington State, Quartz Mountain Festival in Oklahoma, Black Hills Chamber Soloists in South Dakota, Cedar Valley Chamber Music Festival in Iowa, and the Bay Area Music Festival in Florida. In 2015, Bjella was featured soloist at the Beaumaris Festival in the UK.

Bjella’s passion for teaching has produced many recent notable achievements:

·      Students placed in graduate programs at USC (Thornton School of Music), Rice, Indiana University, Hartt School, Longy, and CIM

·      Two students winning auditions for NYO (National Youth Orchestra)

·      National audition winners at orchestral openings for the Memphis Symphony and Principal Cello with the Mississippi Symphony

·      Summer festival placements at Tanglewood, Aspen, Bowdoin, Brevard, and Eastern

·      Winner of Sarasota Young Artist Competition and 2nd place at Sphinx Competition

·      Pre-college students awarded title positions in Youth Symphonies, All-State Principal chairs, and Concerto competition winners.

In 2012, Bjella joined 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. An avid sports fan, Bjella lives in Oviedo, Florida with his wife Traci Ash-Bjella.