Clarinet / Conductor
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.
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.
Michael Collins appears on the new Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton release Read more
'English Music for Clarinet and Piano' with Michael McHale Read more
He performs in a series of concerts alongside Alessio Bax, Paul Watkins and others. Read more
First volume features late Symphonies Nos.34-36 Read more
5-star review hails performance as 'something of a revelation' Read more
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Credit Jack Lewis WilliamsDownload - 3.1 MBMichael Collins is now without a question the doyen of clarinettists, and this recital reveals a master at work... Collins and Michael McHale are an established duo and these performances are completely symbiotic, the one understanding every nuance of the other intuitively.
Gramophone
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
GramophoneMichael Collins is now without a question the doyen of clarinettists, and this recital reveals a master at work... Collins and Michael McHale are an established duo and these performances are completely symbiotic, the one understanding every nuance of the other intuitively.
BBC Music MagazineWee’s fingers dance with clarity and delight around the keyboard...he and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Michael Collins, have an excellent rapport.
GramophoneAn outstandingly successful and enjoyable issue
BBC Music MagazineAstute performances, rigorous musical integrity and exceptional sound - unreservedly recommended!
BBC Music MagazineThe piece as a whole is by turn penetrating and genuinely poignant, and certainly makes this release worth owning
BBC Music MagazineMostly recorded in 2019, the performances f ind Rumon Gamba, the BBC Philharmonic and the engineering team on top form, shaping and colouring these motley scores with a winning mixture of panache...
Gramophone MagazineThe Wigmore Soloists’ Beethoven yields to none in polish, buoyancy and cantabile eloquence, while the Berwald makes for a thoroughly agreeable digestif.
BBC Music MagazineWith violinist Isabelle van Keulen and clarinettist Michael Collins spearheading the players, it ’s unsurprising that the performance [of the Ferguson Octet] as a whole is something of a revelation.
GramophoneMichael Collins’s tone flows like oil, as Mozart himself might have said...The sequence of works is delectable and the performances delivered with all the care and sensitivity you could wish for.
BBC Music MagazineIn the Quintet, Collins is joined by newly formed ensemble Wigmore Soloists, the crème de la crème of chamber players who in this beautifully produced interpretation take the much-loved piece..
BBC Music Magazine.Altogether, a fervent reminder of the brilliance of collective musicmaking – and just how much we’ve missed it in recent years.
The GuardianThe release marks Collins’s 60th birthday later this month, and the sonatas provide a perfect showcase for his creamy tone and superb technical facility; Stephen Hough is the equally immaculate pianist.
BBC Radio 3 Record ReviewRecord of the Week
GramophoneA most engaging disc, beautifully done.
Gramophone...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.
Gramophone MagazineOnce again, one has to salute the extraordinary facility and irresistibly seductive, lyrical grace of Collins' playing.
Gramophone MagazineA dedicated performance by Collins
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.
BBC Music MagazineMichael Collins' performance of Reger is mesmerising. 5*
GramophoneImaginative, inspired playing by a leading clarinettist of a range of works
BBC Music MagazineMichael Collins's skills have been a welcome presence on the classical scene for decades now. His way of conjuring moments of mesmerising stillness, among all the virtuosos fireworks, is enough in itself to lift the appeal of this release way beyond the collector's completism…
Gramophone MagazineCollins, with Mchale, offers joyous performances of these two works... a most desirable issue
Gramophone Magazinethere's plenty of personality in the playing here, with much wit in the Allegro ben moderato and the charming minuet…London Winds deliver an exuberant account, surpassing my previous favourite..
BBC Music MagazineCollins floats exquisitely limpid lines in the graceful, contrapuntal Adagio, allowing it effortlessly to unfold.
Gramophone...supreme vigour, clarity and refinement. Finely recorded, even by Collins and the Brodsky's standards.
BBC Music MagazineJames Ehnes and Amy Schwartz Moretti make the best possible case for experiencing the entire cycle in one whole sweep
MusicWeb International[The Bernstein is] deliciously played by the Collins-McHale duo...This warmly recorded recital continues the good work established by Collins in the earlier volume.
GramophoneCollins proves as brilliant a soloist as any... Highly recommended.
GramophoneThis is a delightful disc, not just through the warmth and fun of the five works by five composers, but through the magic of the great clarinettist Michael Collins
BBC Music MagazineThe limpid tone, the suave progress from note to note: such qualities make the Mozart Concerto's slow movement glide by in a dream...No kinks anywhere; but also few emotional markers. Cool perfection, that's the tendency.
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.
GramophoneThe performances...are all unfailingly attuned to this often visceral music, which also applies to the conducting...All in all, as fine a selection of Turnage's recent music as could be wished
The Sunday TimesHere is the essence of him: his precocious song-cycle symphony (No 2) and arresting Symphony No 3 (performed by the Philharmonia)...and that locus classicus of ensemble virtuosity, the five-minute Coursing, with its long-sustained, leaping, complexly inflected unison line plausibly evoking Niagara Falls.
MusicWeb InternationalCollins and McHale make a convincing case for these attractive scores. One senses that Collins is a sensitive musician. He certainly has impressive breath control and produces an attractive timbre
The GuardianGardner shapes it all beautifully, and his soloists – Michael Collins in the Sonata, baritone Roderick Williams in the songs – are suave and refined.
BBC Music MagazineCollins, acting as both soloist and conductor, offers dazzling performances that make use of the elaborations Baermann made to the clarinet part. He is equally at home in the intimate lyricism of Weber's slow movement as he is in the brilliance of the writing elsewhere..
International Record ReviewCollins plays [the Five Bagatelles] with much affection...overall I enjoyed these performances greatly.
Gramophone[Collins] give the impression of improvising the spectacular virtuoso writing with a freedom of expression that conveys pure joy.
Gramophone Classical Music GuideCollins does Adams proud, and so does the London Sinfonietta. The recordings are first-rate
BBC Music MagazineMichael Collins repeats the success of his disc of Nos 1 and 2 with elegantly phrased melodies, immaculate passagework and wondrously even trills. The Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Robin O'Neill again provide alert support, and the recording is outstanding.
GramophoneThe performances have just the qualities one hopes for: the sense of a group of young performers delightedly discovering that these neglected works are not in the least dusty or faded, but strong, urgent and brilliantly crafted is palpable throughout..
Gramophone Classical Music GuideLed with flair and imagination by Michael Collins, London Winds give a vital, refined performanceof the Gran Partita, exceptionally transparent in texture and full of felicitous detail.
Gramophone Classical Music GuideMichael Collins and friends give a performance that is wonderfully resilient and imaginative.
BBC Music MagazineMichael Collins effortlessly surmounts all their technical difficulties... with incisive attack, wonderfully liquid arpeggios and complete control even up to (sounding) top B flats...
International Record ReviewHe [Gregson] speaks to a large audience, without sacrificing integrity. With superb performances and sound... this is a release of vital, attractive and immensely likeable music
GramophoneMichael Collins's easy virtuosity in the Clarinet Concerto is a joy.
GramophoneSuperb. An enthusiastic recommendation
Gramophone Classical Music GuideCollins and Roscoe the Vanbrugh give an accomplished performance of the Sextet's sparklingly affirmative rhythms.
Penguin GuideCampbell's agile and pointed performance of the clarinet work brings fastish speeds and a fresh, unmannered style in all three movements...The earlier work for flute and harp is just as freshly and sympathetically done.
