Composer and conductor born in Ipiales, Nariño, in 1963. He began his musical studies in 1980 at the Conservatory of Quito, Ecuador, with Cesar Ramon and Mario Baeza, culminating his studies in Orchestra Conducting at the Conservatory of Music of the National University of Colombia with Gustavo Yepes.
As an arranger and orchestrator he has worked on projects for Plácido Domingo, Alfredo Gutiérrez, Andrea Echeverri, Juanes, Andrés Cepeda, Manuel Cubides, Monsieur Periné, Morat, among others. In the cinematographic field he has been orchestrator in several films including: "Soñar no cuesta nada", "La Sargento Matacho" and "Cazando Luciérnagas", as composer of original music in the recent film "Chaman el ultimo guerrero"by director Sandro Meneses and in several short films including presentations at the Golden Silents film festival at Lincoln Center in New York.
Parra has conducted orchestras such as the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Peru, the Chamber Orchestra of Caracas, the Chamber Orchestra of Quito, the NYU Contemporary Ensemble, the Symphony Orchestra of the Conservatory of the National University of Colombia, the Batuta National Symphony Orchestra, the Batuta Symphony Orchestra of Bogotá, several of the orchestras of this system and various chamber music ensembles.
He has obtained several distinctions as a composer, among which stand out: musical backdrop of the radio of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, winner of the competition for his composition in 1991, Francisco de Paula Santander scholarship in 1992, National Composition Award, symphony orchestra modality with his works Abejas, Geilon and Bámbaros in 1993, 1997 and 1999, respectively.
His works have been performed in Latin America, Europe and the United States. His music has been published since 1999 by Seesaw Music Corporation New York (a division of Subito Music Corporation New Jersey) and Gapa Music Publishers.
He is currently a full-time professor at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia where he teaches composition, orchestration and film scoring.