Professional Studio Southeast Portland, Oregon
(503) 775-2894 collinheade@aol.com
Biography
Collin G. Heade embarks on celebrating his 11th season as artistic director/conductor of the Westside Community & Youth Orchestra in Hillsboro, Oregon (wcyo.org); and his 10th season as conductor of the Junior Symphony of Vancouver, Washington.
As a conductor, he has attended workshops with the Virginia, Baltimore and Norwalk Symphonies.
During the past several Covid-19 months, as an avid composer he has begun working up second versions of his earlier pieces beginning from 2015, and is slowly working thru them in chronological order. These second versions are denoted thru his Compositions web page with the initials v.2. All his compositional endeavors can be viewed from his website at PortlandCello.com.
He has been selected as a finalist by The American Prize, which
celebrates American excellence in the performing arts, in three fields:
orchestral programming; choral composition, for his piece “An
Abandoned Lighthouse,” a fantasy for orchestra and choir; and a
work for string orchestra, “Expressions,” in three movements.
Very recently, in March 2022, Collin has become a semi-finalist in two
additional pieces for the American Prize: in the orchestral
composers field, for his piece “The Story of the Songbird & the
Elephant,” a double concerto for piccolo, tuba and orchestra, with
narration; and an instrumental chamber music category, for his piece
“Reminiscences,” four short fantasies for recorder orchestra.
As a cellist, Collin has performed as principal with the Oregon
Chamber Players, and the Oregon Arts Orchestra, with whom he has
made three European tours.
He has concentrated on cello instruction all his professional life and
teaches at his home studio in southeast Portland as well as the Valley
Catholic Music School in Beaverton. During the Covid-19 pandemic he
is exclusively teaching cello and conducting via the internet and enjoys
demonstrating with his students areas where more enlightened efforts
may be needed.
Over these last several months, in striving to maintain a connection
with orchestral members, Collin has written an assortment of
theoretical Letters to the Orchestra. These were sent out to members
during the pandemic, in an attempt to simplify an assortment of music
theory related topics. In part he accomplished these by incorporating
visual software by Dorico to portray examples. These were both
exhilarating and fun in portraying, similar to writing short excerpts
of explanatory notes, yet in a way which would be fun for the reviewer
toward a better understanding of certain musical topics.
Collin’s principal teachers have included Tomas Svoboda,
composition; John Trudeau, orchestral conducting; and David Wilson,
choral conducting. He had the honor of being Hamiliton Chiefetz’s
very first cello student in the Portland area, and received instruction
from cellist Dorien de Léon as well.
Collin enjoys his home life immensely with spouse, Cameretta.
His daughter, Julie, is a Sr. Manager, Reputations Programs,
Corporate Affairs, for Banfield Pet Hospital headquarters in
in Vancouver, WA.
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