A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, cellist David Bjella has a multi faceted career as a teacher, chamber musician, orchestral player, and soloist. He is Professor of Cello at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, member of the critically acclaimed Iris Orchestra in Tennessee, taught and performed at the Chigiana Academia Musicale festival in Siena, Italy, the Cuerdas de Enlace festival in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, the Hot Springs Festival in Arkansas, the Orlando Chamber Soloists in the Black Hills Festival, and was a featured clinician and soloist at the Beaumaris Festival in Wales. In December of 2016, Bjella served as Principal Cellist of the Orquesta Virtuosi De Pernambuco which performed in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile. Mr. Bjella currently spends his summers teaching and performing at the Wintergreen Music Festival in Virginia.