Hannah Collins
Cellist Hannah Collins is a dynamic performer and collaborator devoted to diverse forms of musical expression. Winner of De Linkprijs for contemporary interpretation, Hannah takes an active role in expanding the repertoire for cello and has commissioned and premiered solo works by composers such as Caroline Shaw, Patrick van Deurzen, and Timo Andres. With support from the Presser Foundation, Hannah spent 2009-2011 in France and The Netherlands researching and performing contemporary European cello repertoire. She continues to catalyze and champion the works of compelling young composers with New Morse Code, her duo with percussionist Michael Compitello. Hannah and Michael were finalists in the 2014 Concert Artists Guild Competition and recipients of a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant for a new work by Christopher Stark entitled The Language of Landscapes. Together, they co-direct Avaloch Farm Music Institute’s New Music Initiative, a summer residency program in Boscawen, New Hampshire designed to provide resources and workspace for performers and composers collaborating on new works.
Praised for her “incisive, vibrant continuo” playing (South Miami Classical Review), Hannah appears regularly as a Baroque cellist with the Sebastians, New York Baroque Incorporated, Quodlibet Ensemble, and the Trinity Baroque Orchestra. She is a core member of Cantata Profana, a vocal/instrumental chamber ensemble with a narrative programming style that cuts across stylistic genres. Hannah has been invited to give solo and chamber music performances at festivals throughout Europe and North America including Orford Centre d'arts (Canada), Kneisel Hall (US), NJO (The Netherlands), Aldeburgh Festival (UK), and Musique de Chambre à Giverny (France).
A dedicated teaching artist, Hannah is an alumna of Ensemble ACJW, a professional development program focused on chamber music performance, teaching artistry, and arts advocacy through the resources of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute, in partnership with the New York City Department of Education. She serves as co-director of KHBH: Together in Music, a recurring outreach residency which connects the Kneisel Hall Music Festival with the community of Blue Hill, Maine through creative projects. She currently teaches cello and chamber music Queens College and Greenwood Junior Music Camp.
Hannah earned a B.S. in biomedical engineering summa cum laudefrom Yale College and also holds graduate degrees in cello performance from the Yale School of Music and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. Her principal mentors have included Stefan Reuss, Ole Akahoshi, Aldo Parisot, Michel Strauss, Robert Mealy, and Marcy Rosen.