Michael Collins is holder of the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society instrumental award for 2007, the first ever wind player to win this award.
Michael Collins is holder of the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society instrumental award for 2007, the first ever wind player to win this award.
"For the integrity and quality of his musicianship and for the open-minded variety of his repertoire, which included his masterly performance of Elliott Carter's Clarinet Concerto, the award goes to Michael Collins."
Michael Collins is one of the world's most successful and sought-after wind players. At 16 he won the woodwind prize in the first BBC Young Musician of the Year competition and at 22 made his American debut at Carnegie Hall, New York. Since then he has performed as soloist with most of the world's major orchestras, including the Philadelphia, Helsinki Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, City of Birmingham Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, BBC Symphony, Philharmonia and English Chamber Orchestras, with conductors such as Rattle, Dutoit, Sinopoli, Salonen, Slatkin, Marriner, Pinnock and Otaka.
Michael Collins has done much to expose the clarinet concerto repertoire of today's notable composers including the world premiere of John Adams' Clarinet Concerto Gnarly Buttons, (written for Michael) at London's South Bank Centre, conducted by the composer and also the UK and Dutch premieres of Elliott Carter's Clarinet Concerto. Mark-Anthony Turnage is writing Rifts and Refrains for Michael, a commission for the Hallé Orchestra to be premiered in 2004/5. A double concerto commission for clarinet and violin with soloist Isabelle van Keulen is being written by Erki-Sven Tüür, to be performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra in 2004/5.
Performances in the 2004/5 season include appearances with the BBC Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Hallé and Residentie orchestras and the Camerata Salzburg. He also has a major European city chamber tour featuring Stravinsky's "L'histoire du Soldat" in collaboration with Hakan Hardenberger and Isabelle van Keulen.
Michael Collins is also in demand as a chamber musician, regularly performing with the Lindsay and Belcea String Quartets, Mikhail Pletnev, Joshua Bell, Lars Vogt, Isabelle van Keulen and Kathryn Stott. In 1988 he founded London Winds who have since appeared regularly throughout the UK and at many international festivals, including the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, City of London, and Delft Festivals. This autumn they appear in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Hall. London Winds premiered Robin Holloway's Octet at the 2001 Cheltenham Festival. In 2001 Michael Collins was featured as International Artist in Residence for the 2001 Bath International Festival, and in June 2002, as guest artist in a series of chamber concerts with other eminent musicians at London's Wigmore Hall.
Michael Collins' many recordings include John Adams' Gnarly Buttons with the London Sinfonietta, conducted by the composer, a London Winds' Ligeti disc for Sony Classical (nominated for a Grammy award in 1999) and a disc of Brahms, Schumann and Frühling clarinet trios with Steven Isserlis and Stephen Hough for BMG. Michael's recording of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, arranged for clarinet by Mikhail Pletnev, coupled with Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, with the Russian National Orchestra and Pletnev, was released by Deutsche Grammophon in June 2000 to great critical acclaim. In 2002 Michael recorded the Gregson Clarinet Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, released in August 2003.
Michael's recording of the third and fourth clarinet concertos by Louis Spohr, with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, has now been released on the Hyperion label. It is the long-awaited sequel to his recording of the first two Spohr Concertos. Both recordings were made on his Peter Eaton International clarinets.
"Collins completes his recordings of these delightful concertos with the contrasting works presented here. Collins dazzles like a bel canto diva in the pyrotechnic leaps, trills and runs, while he lavishes his rich tone, phenomenal breath control and deeply satisfying expressive insights on the E minor." (Sunday Times)
"This oustanding disc is the counterpart of Michael Collins's coupling of Spohr's first two Clarinet Concertos with the same forces. It is thanks to Collins's artistry that relatively prosaic ideas are transformed, with magical echo effects, subtle pointing of rhythm to make the music sparkle in shaping of phrases that is magnetic. An exceptionally attractive disc." (Gramophone)
"Michael Collins repeats the success of his disc of Nos 1 and 2 with elegantly phrased melodies, immaculate passagework and wondurously even trills. The Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Robin O'Neill again provide alert support, and the recording is outstanding, with a pleasant sense of intimacy embracing wind, strings and soloist." (BBC Music Magazine)
"Michael Collins brings off the more spectacular passages with stylish relish. He's even better in the long, lyrical lines of the slow movement - a lovely Adagio that has real expressive intensity here, thanks to the quiet eloquence and subtle shading of Collins and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra in this performance." (International Record Review)
Michael changed to Peter Eaton International model clarinets in 2001. "The sound is so very warm and even in quality. I don't have to think about tuning but just play through the middle, which means that I can concentrate on playing the music rather than the clarinet".
In 2005 we completed a new bassett clarinet for Michael, which we made especially for him in conjunction with that wonderful craftsman Tony Ward. He gave eighteen performances of the Mozart Concerto on this instrument in January 2006, in England, Germany and Holland, and will make a new recording of the work in the near future.
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