C. Keith Collins, DM
C. Keith Collins is a multi-instrumentalist whose musical tastes range from medieval Welsh harp music to baroque orchestral repertoire to the traditional music of his ancestral Appalachian homeland. Praised for his “mastery...and most perfect intonation possibly imaginable”, Keith has as bassoonist performed or recorded with many of today’s leading period instrument ensembles, including Tafelmusik, Apollo’s Fire, Washington Bach Consort, and San Diego Bach Collegium. He is a founding member of Heartland Baroque, a chamber group specializing in early 17th century Italian and German chamber music. Keith can be heard playing recorder, curtal, harp and shawm with the early wind band Forgotten Clefs. He is keenly interested in the harping traditions of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales; his Irish harp is a copy of the ca. 1600 ‘Castle Otway’ instrument and is strung with brass and silver strings. The music of the southern Appalachians holds a special place in his heart, and he enjoys exploring that music with fretless banjo and Appalachian dulcimer, and through the shape-note and unaccompanied ballad traditions. He is a volunteer at the Indiana Raptor Center, a wildlife hospital for injured and orphaned birds of prey. He is adjunct instructor at the Historical Performance Institute of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, and at The University of North Texas in Denton. Keith makes his home in Brown County, Indiana with one husband, one cat named Erma, four bassoons, four harps, four banjos, and a menagerie of other instruments. His patronus is an Ewok.