Hannah Collins

Hannah Collins is a cellist who plays both modern and Baroque instruments, with focused expertise in period performance and forward-looking new music. She forms half of the contemporary duo New Morse Code and has requested original works from leading composers in both solo and collaborative settings.

Born in 1984 in Geneva, New York, near Rochester, Collins followed her older sister Sarah’s violin playing by beginning cello lessons at age four. Encouraging summers at the Greenwood Music Camp in Massachusetts during high school helped steer her toward a professional path in music.

She completed undergraduate studies at Yale University, graduating summa cum laude with joint degrees in biomedical engineering and cello performance. Graduate training followed at the Yale School of Music and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in the Netherlands, where her teachers were Aldo Parisot, Stefan Reuss, and Marcy Rosen. She later joined the Ensemble Connect program, a professional development initiative linked to Carnegie Hall and the Juilliard School.

Collins has reciprocated by leading educational projects, serving as co-director of KHBH: Together in Music and teaching cello and chamber music at the Greenwood Junior Music Camp.

In Baroque repertoire she has performed continuo with major period ensembles, appearing regularly with New York Baroque Incorporated and the Trinity Baroque Orchestra and maintaining membership in the Bach Aria Soloists. She has also collaborated with The Knights, the Talea Ensemble, and A Far Cry. Solo festival engagements have taken her across North America and Europe to events such as the Aldeburgh Festival in the U.K. and Musique de Chamber à Giverny in France.

For contemporary music she received the De Linkprijs for contemporary interpretation and has commissioned pieces from composers including Caroline Shaw and Timo Andres. Much of this activity has occurred with percussionist Michael Compitello through their duo New Morse Code, which has released recordings on the New Focus and Innova labels. Her solo debut album, Resonance Lines, appeared in 2021 on the Sono Luminus label.