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Artistic Staff Cheri Collins  Cheri Collins, D.A., graduated from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where she earned a Bachelor of Performance on Violin. While attending the Manhattan School of Music on full scholarship, she was one of two freshmen violinists chosen that year to study with the Russian-born violin professor, Raphael Bronstein. Bronstein began his teaching career in the United States in 1923 as an assistant to Leopold Auer, with whom he studied at the Petrograd (now Leningrad) Conservatory since the age of 12. Dr. Collins’ decision to attend the Manhattan School was based on this opportunity. While attending the Manhattan School, she performed with the Manhattan Contemporary Chamber Symposium, which debuted new compositions at both Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall. After graduation, Dr. Collins worked in São Paulo, Brazil, playing first violin in the São Paulo Symphony. Two months after her arrival, that symphony’s conductor asked her to teach 48 violin students, ages twelve and thirteen, at a music camp in the mountains of Campos do Jordão as part of a government-sponsored pilot program. This pilot program provided an opportunity to children from small towns to have group lessons, sectionals and an orchestral experience. Dr. Collins insists that it was this particular teaching experience (coupled with her inability to speak Portuguese) that defined and created her style of teaching and relating to young musicians. Because of her success that summer, the program was fully funded and incorporated as a permanent part of the music camp the following year. Dr. Collins played first violin with the Florida Orchestra in Tampa, Florida (formally the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony) from 1978 to 1984, and then moved to Northern Virginia to begin a varied and successful freelance career. Some highlights of her freelance years include performances with the American Chamber Orchestra, Baltimore Opera, and the National Symphony Orchestra. She also performed as first violinist in the Canterbury String Quartet, and as a recording artist for National Geographic’s Discovery series. From 1990 to the present, Dr. Collins’ career has been focused on her passion for teaching. Since joining Fairfax County Public Schools, she completed a Masters in Conducting from George Mason University. She recently completed the Doctor of Arts program in Higher Education and Violin Performance at George Mason University. Her Dissertation, Connecting Science and the Musical Arts in Teaching Tone Quality: Integrating Helmholtz Motion and Master Violin Teachers’ Pedagogies, focused on the physics of the vibrating string and its relationship to tone production. Dr. Collins contributes to Ovation Press String Visions, an online resource center that aims to inform and inspire contemporary classical musicians through the latest news and discoveries. From 1993-2008, Dr. Collins’ orchestras received “Superior” ratings in District XII Orchestra Festivals. Her orchestra received the “1998 MegaFest Award” for the highest-scoring orchestra over nine weekends, in the 1998 Virginia Beach and Toronto MegaFests, sponsored by North America Music Festivals. In 1999 and 2005 her orchestra received recognition for “Outstanding Performance by a Middle School Orchestra” from the Virginia Music Educators Association, at their association’s State conference. The Oakton High School Chamber Orchestra was invited to the 2008 Music for All National America Orchestra Festival; performing at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in Indianapolis. The orchestra was invited to attend the National Orchestra Festival in Atlanta, Georgia, sponsored by the American String Teachers Association. Dr. Collins is in great demand as a string clinician and adjudicator, as well as to demonstrate the physics of tone-production. The 2011-2012 season marks Dr. Collins' ninth year as conductor of the American Youth String Ensemble. Photo by Steve Barrett |
