Musician Bio

CJ Collins is currently acting section cello of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Prior to joining the ISO, CJ was Principal Cello of The Orchestra Now in upstate NY. He has been a substitute musician with St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Sarasota Orchestra and held positions of Associate Principal Cello in Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Assistant Principal Cello in the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, and section cello in the Evansville Philharmonic and Owensboro Symphony Orchestra.

As an avid chamber musician, CJ has collaborated with artists including Natasha Brofsky, Ara Gregorian, Grigory Kalinovsky, Michael Kannen, Hye-Jin Kim, Melissa Reardon, Hagai Shaham, Kristopher Tong, and Xiao-Dong Wang, and has coached chamber music at Summer Chamber Music Institute at East Carolina University.  In past summers he has attended Aspen Music Festival, Madeline Island Music Camp, and Summit Music Festival.

CJ received both his Bachelors of Music and Certificate of Advanced Performance Studies from East Carolina University under the tutelage of Emanuel Gruber. He completed his Master’s degree in Music Performance at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University studying with Eric Kim.