Hunter Collins

Oboe

Hunter Collins is currently the director of bands at Union County High School, and a freelance musician in east Tennessee. He previously held the position of second oboe and solo English horn with the Bryan and Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestras. Hunter has performed extensively across Tennessee, Louisiana, and Virginia with performance engagements that include the Cumberland County Playhouse, Oak Ridge Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, and a 2017 Carnegie Hall concert with the Tennessee Wind Symphony. He has received the Charles Coker Young Fine Arts Award, the Captain William Anderson Scholarship, a grant through TTU’s office of creative inquiry, and the Louisiana Lagniappe Award for Best Woodwind Jury. Additionally, Hunter was named the winner of the 2019 Joan Derryberry Memorial Concerto Competition, which gave him the opportunity to perform as a soloist with the Bryan Symphony Orchestra.

Most recently, Hunter was named a finalist for the third oboe and solo English horn chair of the Knoxville Symphony. He has also been awarded a fellowship with the first ever Newfound Chamber Winds Festival.

Hunter is originally from Maynardville, Tennessee. He holds degrees from Tennessee Tech University (B.M.) and Louisiana State University (M.M.), and is currently pursuing further graduate studies at Carson Newman University (M.Ed). Major teachers include Michael Adduci and Johanna Cox Pennington. Professional affiliations include Pi Kappa Lambda, National Association for Music Education, Tennessee Music Education Association, and East Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association.