Percussionist Britton-René Collins has dedicated her artistry to shaping an equitable community for all musicians to thrive equally. Britton-René is a winner of the 2020 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and was awarded the Ambassador Prize for exceptional musicianship and demonstrating an active passion for creating social change through her music.
A Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Chicago International Music Competition, Britton-René has performed as a soloist in the United States, Canada, and Europe. She has made several concerto appearances, including the Grammy Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Valdosta Symphony, and the Meridian Symphony. In addition to her active solo career, BrittonRené enjoys life as a chamber musician and is a percussionist with New York City-based Excelsis Percussion Quartet. She is also the co-founder of Vision Duo alongside violinist Ariel Horowitz.
As an advocate for new music, Britton-René's current projects involve premiering new compositions and commissions for multi-percussion and marimba, including during her debut PASIC Artist solo performance in Indianapolis, Indiana. Recent highlights include attending the soundSCAPE new music composition and performance exchange in Cesena, Italy, and participating in the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity's Evolution: Classical program. As an artist, Britton-René proudly endorses Vic Firth sticks and mallets, Zildjian cymbals, Marimba One instruments, and REMO drumheads.
Born in the United States, Britton-René began playing the piano at the age of five. She discovered percussion at eight years old when she became intrigued by the drum set. She quickly fell in love with playing rock, jazz, and pop music on the drum set, which ignited her enthusiasm to learn various percussion instruments and styles of music. She received her B.M. at the University of Toronto with Aiyun Huang, Beverley Johnston, and John Rudolph, where she won the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. She is currently pursuing her M.M. at the University of Michigan with Doug Perkins, Ian Antonio, Tom Sherwood, and Jeremy Epp.
