Michael Collins
Clarinet / Conductor
At a glance
Michael Collins
Clarinet / Conductor
Brilliant playing in every senseClassic FM
As a leading conductor and exponent of the clarinet, Michael Collins is one of the most complete musicians of his generation.
Biography —
Michael Collins is one of the most complete musicians of his generation. With a continuing, distinguished career as a soloist, he has in recent years also become highly regarded as a conductor. From 2010 – 2018 was the Principal Conductor of the City of London Sinfonia and has recently been Artistic Director of London Mozart Players. Recent guest conducting and play-directing highlights have included engagements with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.
Recent highlights include a return to the Philharmonia Orchestra, performances worldwide with orchestras including Minnesota Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Rheinische Philharmonie, Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra and Kuopio Symphony Orchestra and tours in South Africa, Australia (with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), Japan and Mexico (with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional).
Michael celebrated his 60th Birthday in 2022 and gave commemorative concerts at Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall with the London Mozart Players. He was also interviewed for a double page spread in Gramophone Magazine. In January 2021 Michael gave the debut performance of new ensemble Wigmore Soloists, a new Associate Ensemble funded by the Wigmore Hall and led by Michael Collins and violinist Isabelle van Keulen. Wigmore Soloists sees leading international instrumentalists coming together to perform a wide range of chamber music repertoire, from duets to works for up to 13 musicians. The ensemble released the Schubert Octet on disc in 2021 to great acclaim (BIS Records). More recently, they have released a trios disc and recordings of Beethoven and Berwald septets.
Michael Collins has been committed to expanding the repertoire of the clarinet for many years. He has given premières of works such as John Adams’ Gnarly Buttons, Elliott Carter’s Clarinet Concerto – for which he won a Gramophone award for his recording on Deutsche Grammophon – and Brett Dean’s Ariel’s Music and Turnage’s Riffs and Refrains, which was commissioned by the Hallé Orchestra. Collins has gone on to perform Turnage’s work with the Residentie Orkest, Royal Flanders and Helsinki Philharmonics, as well as the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Collins has received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year Award in 2007 in recognition of his pivotal role in premièring repertoire by some of today’s most highly regarded composers.
In great demand as a chamber musician, Collins performs regularly with the Borodin, Heath and Belcea quartets, András Schiff, Martha Argerich, Stephen Hough, Mikhail Pletnev, Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis. His ensemble, London Winds, celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2018 and the group maintains a busy diary with high calibre engagements such as the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh Festival, Edinburgh Festival, City of London Festival, Cheltenham International Festival and Bath Mozartfest. During the 2019-20 season he was an Artist in Residence at the Wigmore Hall which included concerts with Stephen Hough, the Vienna Piano Trio, Leonard Elschenbroich, Michael McHale and the Borodin Quartet.
Michael Collins records for BIS, and in his prolific recording career he has covered an extraordinarily wide range of solo repertoire, which also includes releases on Chandos, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, EMI and Sony. He is one of the world’s most recorded clarinettists, having made no fewer than twenty discs for Chandos alone. His most recent release is of the Mozart Clarinet Quintet and Concerto and Birchall Clarinet Concerto, performed with Philharmonia Orchestra and Wigmore Soloists, which received a five star review from BBC Music Magazine. Prior to this, he released a disc of Brahms Sonatas with Stephen Hough, and in July 2020, released a disc featuring Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 5 and Finzi’s Concerto for Clarinet and Strings with Philharmonia Orchestra, directed by Michael. This disc received multiple five star reviews in Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine (“This rather unusual coupling owes its existence to a world-class clarinettist”) alongside rave reviews on BBC Radio 3 and an exclusive interview in Presto Magazine. Other recent releases include a disc of Crusell Clarinet Concertos with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, which was Gramophone Magazine’s ‘Recording of the Month’ in June 2018 and was nominated for BBC Music Magazine Award; and a disc of British Clarinet Concertos with the BBC Symphony Orchestra which features Collins as soloist and conductor. In 2017 he was awarded a Grammy for his disc ‘Shakespeare Songs’ with Ian Bostridge and Antonio Pappano (‘Best Classical Solo Vocal Album’).
In the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 2015, Michael Collins was awarded an MBE for his services to music. He plays on Yamaha clarinets.
News —

Clarinet Spotlight concert series – Michael Collins and Philharmonia Orchestra
Michael Collins performs Weber Clarinet Concerto No.1 Read more

Wigmore Soloists release Mozart Clarinet Quintet
Recording also features Clarinet Concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra Read more

Gramophone Magazine celebrates Michael Collins’ 60th Birthday
Michael speaks at length about his vast recording career and future plans. Read more

Orchestra of the Swan announces Michael Collins as Principal Conductor for 2021/22
Michael will direct the orchestra for the 2021/22 season. Read more

Ikon Arts’ Artists at the BBC Proms
Today, two Ikon Arts artists perform at the BBC Proms. Read more
Photos —














Reviews —
Collins's breath control and easy virtuosity [...] had to be heard to be believed. An exhilarating hour of music-making.
The Sunday Times; from Michael's recital with pianist Michael McHale at Bath Mozartfest, November 2016
Michael Collins is on superb musical and technical form… matchless performances.”
International Record Review
There’s no denying that Collins is a master of his instrument; his technique is faultless.
Fanfare Magazine
Gorgeous-toned musicianship
BBC Music Magazine
Collins floats exquisitely limpid lines in the graceful, contrapuntal Adagio, allowing it effortlessly to unfold
Classic FM
...one of the most glorious clarinettists in the world today, a concerto soloist of brilliance, a chamber musician of enormous sensitivity.
Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Throughout, Michael Collins is in his element, relishing every twist and turn of the music’s consistently imaginative invention.
Gramophone
The flow of the opening melody was beautifully caught by Collins and there was a sense of freedom in his playing... This well-contrasted programme found clarinet and piano as a congenial combination and featured two artists of taste and personality, Michael Collins and Michael McHale, who know each other’s playing so well
Classical Source
...he still maintains that youthful enthusiasm in every note that he plays... Messager's Solo de Concours completely took the breath away and elicited the loudest cheer that I have heard in the Dora Stoutzker Hall.
South Wales Argus
The performance itself was outstanding, possibly the finest I have ever heard… Their resourcefulness vividly captured the entire emotional and expressive range of the music, from the complex rhythms found in the four tutti movements to the utter serenity of the two extremely slow duets.
Surrey Advertiser
It’s a winner whichever way you look at it… to hear [Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto] in such a glorious performance is a real joy… one of the world’s truly great clarinettists.
Limelight Magazine
Collins’s clarinet-playing mesmerises the ear: the closing phrase of Stanford’s ‘Caoine’ movement shows what a player in this league can convey in just two quiet notes.
BBC Music Magazine
Michael Collins plays (and conducts) them with an irresistible exuberance that I’ve not heard equalled.
Gramophone
It’s hard to imagine this varied programme better played than it is here by Collins and Michael McHale. They’re technically impeccable and stylistically flexible.
BBC Music Magazine
Selected Discography —

Mozart Clarinet Quintet and Concerto; Birchall Clarinet Concerto

Brahms: 3 Sonatas with Stephen Hough

Wigmore Soloists: Schubert Octet
BBC Radio 3 Record ReviewRecord of the Week

La clarinette parisienne
GramophoneA most engaging disc, beautifully done.

Michael Collins plays and conducts Vaughan Williams and Finzi
Gramophons...he shapes Finzi’s winding melodies as affectionately as ever. ....Collins has a natural feel for the work’s structure and draws glowing playing from the Philharmonia.

The Lyrical Clarinet, Vol. 3
Gramophone MagazineOnce again, one has to salute the extraordinary facility and irresistibly seductive, lyrical grace of Collins' playing.

R Strauss: Concertante Works
Gramophone MagazineA dedicated performance by Collins

Crusell: Clarinet Concertos
Gramophone Magazine; 'Recording of the Month', June 2018His faultless clarity and articulation, especially at some of the speeds he adopts, are things to marvel at.

Reger: Clarinet Sonatas
BBC Music MagazineMichael Collins' performance of Reger is mesmerising. 5*

The Lyrical Clarinet, Vol. 2
GramophoneImaginative, inspired playing by a leading clarinettist of a range of works

Brahms & Reinecke Clarinet Sonatas
GramophoneCollins, with Mchale, offers joyous performances of these two works... a most desirable issue

Brahms: Cello Sonatas and Clarinet Trio
BBC Music MagazineCollins floats exquisitely limpid lines in the graceful, contrapuntal Adagio, allowing it effortlessly to unfold.

Brahms: Clarinet Quintet (Brodsky Quartet)
Gramophone...supreme vigour, clarity and refinement. Finely recorded, even by Collins and the Brodsky's standards.

Lutoslawski Orchestra Works Vol. 4
GramophoneCollins proves as brilliant a soloist as any... Highly recommended.

British Clarinet Concertos
GramophoneCollins's playing is compelling throughout... Collins shows off not only his splendid agility but also the affecting pathos of the closing pages of the score.
Related Media —
Meet the artist: Michael Collins, The Lyrical Clarinet (Vol. 2)
This is the official video trailer for The Lyrical Clarinet, Vol. 2 (Michael Collins, clarinet - Michael McHale, piano) View on YouTubeMichael Collins: The Lyrical Clarinet
Clarinettist Michael Collins talks about his latest collection of clarinet music for Chandos Records, 'The Lyrical Clarinet', featuring sonatas by Saint-Saëns and Poulenc, plus works by Burgmüller, Finzi, Baermann, Pärt and Reade. View on YouTubePoulenc Clarinet Sonata - Michael Collins, Julien Quentin (Verbier 2007)
View on YouTubeMichael Collins: Onto the Podium
Profile of City of London Sinfonia Principal Conductor, Michael Collins (from 2011) View on YouTubeDownloads —
Contact —
Name
- Fernando Morales