An energetic educator and passionate musician, David Pira is an active soloist, chamber musician and orchestra performer from Bogotá, Colombia. He attended the National University of Colombia’s Conservatory of Music, where he received his undergraduate degree in cello performance. At the same time, he attended the MARGUZ Escuela de Música de Cámara de Bogotá, where he performed chamber music and learned an effortless and natural cello technique under the guidance of Gabriel Guzmán and Adriana Marin, the latter a former student of Christopher Bunting.
Pira received his Master of Music in 2017 from Missouri State University, with Michael A. Murray as his primary instructor; while there he was awarded the William T. White Strings Scholarship. In 2020, he earned a Master of Arts in cello from Ball State University, where he studied with Peter Opie and served as a graduate assistant in cello. His Doctor of Musical Arts in cello performance is from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he studied with Karen Becker. His dissertation on self-directed learning strategies called for a three-part model for learning one of the most difficult cello concertos: Jacques Offenbach’s Concerto militaire. His teaching in Springfield, Missouri, and at the STARS Foundation in Cabool, Missouri, allowed him to coach students of diverse ages and backgrounds, contributing to the development of his self-efficacy pedagogy.
While at the University of Nebraska, Pira served as a graduate assistant and a Hixson-Lied graduate fellow, with duties in music theory instruction and the coaching of chamber ensembles and cello. He produced, with the assistance of Dr. Becker, a cello technique handbook for the cello studio that emphasized the mastering of technical skills through mindful performance.
Pira has been a member of the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, the Topeka Symphony Orchestra, the Kokomo Symphony Orchestra, Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra, and the Muncie Symphony Orchestra, performing in several international venues, including Barcelona, Lima, Pereira, and in various places in the United States. Additionally, he has taken part in masterclasses with Edgar Moreau, Ismar Gomes, Thomas Loewenheim, Laura Ospina, Crispin Campbell, Santiago Cañón, Álvaro Bitrán, Nicholas Finch, Philip Borter, Aldo Mata, Michael Hell, and Peter Schmidt.
Besides his musical activities, Pira has served as an activity leader in the Missouri State University Global Leadership program, helping international students enhance their social skills. While in Muncie, he assisted with the Muncie Symphony Orchestra’s instrument petting zoo, in which elementary and middle school students sampled instruments from the orchestra; he also presented books with children’s tales. Pira has also been the host of several cello and networking workshops for the Technological University of Pereira and for Caldas University, focusing on musical collaboration, performance and study abroad.