Tom Collins

Performer Teacher
Composer
Arranger

Site in German
Deutsche Seiten/German Site
Tom's Photo

Tom Collins passed away peacefully on the 7th January 2004. See Memorials site for more information.

Tom Collins became aquainted with the world of "reeds and bellows" at an early age, having received a small diatonic concertina for Christmas when he was 10 years old. A few years later he began the formal study of piano accordion with Harvey Brownfield, a renowned Keith Vaudeville entertainer, in Cincinnati, Ohio. While still in high school he became staff accordionist with the radio station WHIO in Dayton, and later with WKRC in Cincinnati.

Before entering college at Ohio State University, he spent several years performing throughout the Southern states and in the Caribbean for various theatres and clubs. Later while enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, he was an active performer with the "Mask & Wig Show". After graduating from college he moved to Missoula, Montana where he opened an accordion studio. Later he expanded to three branches and directed several accordion bands.

Although his professional life was spent largely at the University of Montana, where he was dean of several colleges, he always retained an active interest in the instrument and continued composing and arranging for the accordion. Some of his compositions have been used as test pieces for the New Zealand Championships.

In recent years he has been engaged in presenting seminars and workshops on various aspects of the instrument in both Europe and the South Pacific. In 1992, he was invited to do programs in England with Oleg Sharov, the renowned Russian virtuoso and in 1994 he returned to do similar programs. He has presented several seminars and concerts for the Texas Accordion Association and more recently he shared these programs with Maestros Anthony Galla-Rini and Charlie Nunzio.

Contact details:
3023 Old Pond Road
Missoula
Montana
USA
Phone:
Fax:
+1 406-5436162
+1 406-7285822

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