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Daniel Pinilla, guitar
Dr. Daniel Pinilla, Assistant Professor of Jazz Guitar at the University of Michigan, is a guitarist, composer, and educator with over fifteen years of international experience performing, recording, and teaching across the United States and Latin America. He has collaborated with the Colombian National Symphony, the Grammy®-nominated UNT One O'Clock Lab Band, the Bob Curnow Big Band, the Rachel Bade-McMurphy's Glad Beed Orchestra, and with the Latin pop artist Carlos Rivera.
Dr. Pinilla maintains an active performing and recording career. He has released two albums as a bandleader—Intuiciones (FLD, 2011) and Atrás (2011)—and is soon to release his solo guitar album, Single-Handed. His work as a composer, arranger, and guitarist has been recognized with features such as the NYC Jazz Record's December 2012 issue, and he has appeared on several other recordings as a sideman.
He has shared his insights at numerous conferences and seminars, including the Jazz Education Network Conference (JEN), the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, and international meetings such as Art and Culture for Social Transformation and the First International Seminar: Theories and Practices of Music Education at Universidad Central in Bogotá, Colombia.
Deeply committed to using music as a catalyst for social change, Dr. Pinilla has led and collaborated on projects that organize music workshops and concerts for children in rural Colombia, bringing creativity and connection to post-conflict communities while fostering meaningful cultural exchange among music students and artists across Latin America and the United States.
Before joining the University of Michigan, he served on the faculties of the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho and Universidad de La Sabana in Colombia.
Dr. Pinilla holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree (2020) and Master of Music degree (2016) from the University of North Texas, and a Bachelor of Music degree (2011) from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.