About the Artist

COLLIN JINKS is a graduate of Stillwater Senior High in Stillwater, Minnesota. He studied piano for the  past three and one-half years with Dr. Jo Anne Link at the nationally recognized Crocus Hill Studios in St. Paul as a member of the studio’s Premier Class.

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Collin is an award winning pianist and has performed and competed across the United States. In 2017, he was the National Winner of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Senior Piano Competition in Baltimore, Maryland.  In the same competition, he was also awarded the Chopin Foundation of America’s Chopin Prize for best performance of a work by this master. Collin was a 2016 finalist at The International Institute for Young Musicians (IIYM) International Piano Competition at the University of Kansas.  He was only one of three high school students to be awarded a full merit scholarship to attend The Art of Piano Festival at the University of Cincinnati for undergraduate and graduate level students under the professorship of Awadagin Pratt in 2016 and 2017. Collin was also invited to Salt Lake City to audition for the 2016 Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition. In addition he has been the first place winner in the 2016 Thursday Musical Young Artist Scholarship Competition, the La Crosse Rising Stars Concerto Competition, Saint Paul Piano Teachers Association (SPPTA) Concerto Competition, and the Music Association of Minnetonka Young Artist Concerto Competition. He has also been a finalist in the Schubert Club Competition, Young Peoples Symphony Concert Association (YPSCA) Minnesota Orchestra Concerto Competition, and a recipient of the Schmitt Music Award and the Minneapolis Music Teachers Forum Award through the Minnesota Orchestra’s Young Peoples Symphony Concert Association’s Concerto Competition.

 

In 2015, Collin was chosen as a Showcase Round Artist for Classical Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) Varsity Young Artist Competition in Saint Paul, MN which culminated in a live radio broadcast from the Fitzgerald Theater in St Paul. As a showcase artist he was offered merit scholarships to several colleges. Collin was also selected to take part in the Colburn Music Academy International Piano Festival in Los Angeles, CA where he was the laureate of third prize in their International Steinway Concerto Competition. Collin has performed in international recitals and master classes with renowned artists Roberto Plano, Yoshikazu Nagai, Alan Chow, Ory Shihor, Steven Spooner and Neleta True. He has also performed and participated in master classes under John Perry, Enrico Elisi, Awadagin Pratt, Vladimir Feltsman, James Giles, Sergei Babayan, Stewart Goodyear, Olga Kern, Barry Douglas, Kevin Kenner, Bernadene Blaha, Michael Lewin, Yong Hi Moon, Paul Schenly, and Boris Slutsky.

 

Collin is also an accomplished photographer and enjoys running and walking his dogs in his free time. Through his music, he seeks to deliver with the world the infinite beauty which resides within music. In the upcoming years, Collin will be pursuing his undergraduate studies in piano performance at The San Francisco Conservatory of Music studying  with Yoshikazu Nagai.