BIO

Ramiro Miranda is excited to join the music faculty at his alma mater Pittsburg State University starting this Fall 2023, teaching upper strings, conducting, and leading the Southeast Kansas Symphony Orchestra. He recently held the orchestra and upper strings position at Emporia State University from 2015 to 2023. A dedicated educator, he founded the Emporia State University String Camp and Stringfully, both projects that serve K-12 students in the Emporia area. As a violinist and chamber musician, Miranda has given solo recitals in the United States, Latin America, and China. In addition to performing the standard solo and chamber music repertoires, he enjoys improvisatory genres. He is a frequent guest conductor with the Midwest Chamber Ensemble in Kansas City, university orchestras, and middle and high school honor orchestras. Miranda has recently been on a Kansas tour (thanks to a travel grant from Partners of the Americas), with Paraguayan jazz pianist Daniel Ayala, and performed for the Kansas Paraguay Partners annual meeting. He has also shared the stage with internationally acclaimed classical guitarist Berta Rojas, performing music by Agustin Pio Barrios and Heitor Villa Lobos. He is a member of the Jopara Ensemble alongside pianist Alejandro Avila, guitarist Aleia Gonzalez, and cellist Irene Diaz. This instrumental ensemble of Paraguayan musicians performing classical works and folk tunes from their home country, blended with other styles. He also performs in the Switchgrass String Quartet alongside violinist Rob Loren, violist Elizabeth Wallace, and cellist Susan Mayo. This ensemble specializes in improvisatory music, from avant-garde to jazz and everything in between. Miranda is also one-third of the String Daze trio with Riley Day on guitar and bass, and Irene Diaz, a project that explores fiddle music from around the world. Miranda has performed in ensembles supporting Eugene Friesen, Darol Anger, Chris Howes, Jason Anick, Howard Levy, Glenn Velez, and Mike Marshall. He is the recipient of many awards and honors, including a grant to attend the prestigious European American Musical Alliance’s Nadia Boulanger Institute at the historic Schola Cantorum in Paris. He continues to pursue studies in counterpoint and composition and is currently working in collaboration with Kansas poets on a project called Spoken Sonatas (spokensonatas.org). A native of Asunción, Paraguay, Miranda came to the United States to pursue a Bachelor's degree in violin performance at Pittsburg State University. Miranda also holds Master's degrees from Illinois State University in violin performance and orchestral conducting, and a Doctoral in Musical Arts in orchestral conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.