HANNAH COLLINS, cello

Cellist Hannah Collins, from Geneva, NY, has been the recipient of several prizes including the 2007 Presser Music Award, a career advancement grant. She has earned degrees in biomedical engineering and music from Yale University, focusing on sensory perception research while studying cello with Ole Akahoshi and Aldo Parisot.

Hannah enjoys studying the works of living composers with recent performances including Louis Andriessen’s La Voce (for solo violoncellista), Kaija Saariaho's Sept Papillons for solo cello, and Sofia Gubaidulina's Sonnengesang for solo cello, percussion and choir. She is also an active performer of early music. While studying at Yale, she appeared regularly with the Yale Temperament Viol Consort and the Yale Collegium Players (directed by Robert Mealy). She was also the lead continuo player on a recording of the Bach and Mendelssohn Magnificats with Yale Schola Cantorum, released by Naxos in 2009.

As a chamber musician, Hannah has been inspired by her many summers as a student, counselor and junior faculty member at Greenwood Music Camp in the Berkshires. She has also performed at Kneisel Hall, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival Creative Dialogue Workshop, Orford Centre d'arts (Canada), NJO (Netherlands), and the Britten-Pears Programme (UK).