“…the heart and finesse to bring out the feeling in each burst of melody-to make the extroverted ones surge and swell, and to make the quiet ones seem to just float from the cello.”-Orlando Sentinel


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 Associate Professor of Cello and Director of the Chamber Music program at Stetson University as well as Co-Principal of the IRIS Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Michael Stern and a member of the Inman Piano Trio represented by Phillip Truckenbrod. He was one of the featured IRIS chamber musicians for the Naxos released CD “Music of Stephen Hartke” which was chosen as a Top Ten Classical Recording of 2003.


Bjella has also served as Visiting Associate Professor of Cello at Florida State University, Professor of Cello at the University of Central Florida and taught in the Valade Master Teacher program at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan.During the summer, he is on the faculty at the Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He has also performed and taught at the Bellingham Festival in Washington State, the Quartz Mountain Festival in Oklahoma and the Bay Area Music Festival in St. Petersburg, Florida.


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 Chamber Orchestra, he has also been Principal Cellist of the Florida Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Southwest Florida Symphony and the Annapolis Symphony. He has also been a member of the cello section in Cincinnati, Tampa -Associate Principal- as well as a substitute for the Baltimore Symphony. David Bjella received his Bachelor of Music Degree under the tutelage of John Ehrlich. He then studied with the late Stephen Kates at the Peabody Conservatory of Music while earning his Master Degree and receiving the Isreal Dorman String Award.Bjella resides with his wife, Joni, and their two daughters in Deland, Florida.

For more information on Mr. Bjella, please visit his home page.