Henley Symphony Orchestra

Guest artists for 2011/12

Michael Collins – Clarinet

Michael Collins' dazzling virtuosity and sensitive musicianship have made him one of today's most sought-after soloists. At 16 he won the woodwind prize in the first BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition and at 22 made his American début at Carnegie Hall, New York.

Since then he has performed as a soloist with many of the world’s major orchestras, including the Philadelphia, NHK Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, City of Birmingham Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, BBC Symphony and Philharmonia Orchestra.

Collins recently received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year Award, placing him amongst past recipients of the award who include Itzhak Perlman, Mitsuko Uchida, Murray Perahia and Andras Schiff.

Recently signed to the Chandos label, Collins’ current recording plans include concerto discs with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Bergen Philharmonic, in addition to recital discs with Piers Lane. Among his many past recordings are a London Winds’ Ligeti disc for Sony Classical (nominated for a Grammy award in 1999), a disc of Brahms, Schumann and Frühling clarinet trios with Steven Isserlis and Stephen Hough for BMG and a Gramophone Award winning recording of Elliott Carter’s Clarinet concerto, with the London Sinfonietta and Oliver Knussen for Deutsche Grammophon.