After studying Music and Composition at City University (with instrumental lessons at Guildhall) and Sussex University, Sarah Collins embarked on a roller-coaster, professional freelance life in 1989 and hasn’t looked back. She has always sung too, and has run choirs and singing groups all over the place since her student days.

She was commissioned to write two songs for the Silver Salisbury Jubilee Project Summer/Autumn 2022, which were performed at Salisbury Guildhall with 2 schools and various elder singers. She led Celebrate Voice’s 2018 Instachoir & Flashmob, as well as 2017 Corporate Choir and Instachoir, and the 2016 Singing Weekend and Instachoir Flashmob; She was Assistant Director for Salisbury International Festival’s Voices of The Whale for the close of the 2017 Festival.

She really enjoyed being a Locum Director of Jeremy Avis’ Cranbourne & District Community Choir and then sharing the directorship, including performing with them at various events including Alderholt Church, for their summer concert 2019 and The Earth House in summer 2017, and then, as Jeremy focussed on his Bristol life & projects more, took it over full-time from September 2019 and managed to keep it going through the pandemic and lockdowns & it’s still going strong. She also now directs Woodfalls Village Singers (from 2023).

She established Downton Community Choir (from 2008 -12), and ran a chamber choir, Downton Chamber Voices until 2021, who were filmed singing a carol by her for South Today for their Christmas broadcast in December 2016.

She works closely with Rebecca Seymour, who is the Project Coordinator for Celebrating Age in Wiltshire, and has run many successful projects for them all around the County, including most recently, a Commission to create two songs with the writer Ruth Hill, involving people’s Memories around the Queen’s Coronation and children of today’s thoughts about hearing those memories. These were performed by a multi-generational choir at Salisbury Guildhall in September 2022 and again at Woodlands Primary School in March 2023.

Sarah also plays for the Elevate ArtCare project at Salisbury General Hospital, on various wards including The Spinal Unit and the NICU Unit. She was been asked to start a new staff choir at Salisbury Hospital; which started in September 2019. (Sadly curtailed in the Corona Pandemic, but hopefully will return sometime soon). She’s also head of music at The New Forest Small School in Lyndhurst (part time).

She led Celebrate Voice’s 2018 Instachoir & Flashmob, as well as 2017 Corporate Choir and Instachoir, and the 2016 Singing Weekend and Instachoir Flashmob; She was Assistant Director for Salisbury International Festival’s Voices of The Whale for the close of the 2017 Festival; She created and led part of the Salisbury International Festival’s Whakatūwhera 2016 Opening Ceremony involving a chorus of 200 women’s voices; led one of the four choirs (Poultry Cross) for the 2015 Salisbury International Festival Opening Celebrations. She was a pianist (channelling the spirit of Mrs Mills) for Hoodwink Theatre’s Winter’s Trail immersive installation piece in December 2016 at Salisbury Cathedral, as well as writing the now legendary Farewell To Brownsea for Hoodwink’s installation piece on Brownsea Island.

Her extensive composing, performing and musical directing work includes collaborations with Ian Spink, Fast and Dirty Aberdeen; The West Yorkshire Playhouse (with Jude Kelly and Patrick Stewart) Johnson Over Jordan. The Royal Shakespeare Company; Mysteria, (with Rae Smith) The Royal National Theatre; Amy's View; Hamlet, The David Glass Ensemble; Gormenghast; Lucky (with Rae Smith) and Off The Wall, Arc Dance Company; Peer Gynt and more recently, the fabulous Salisbury based Hoodwink Theatre.

As well as being a professional musician and composer, she is also a DJ and has been the resident DJ of the Theatre & Circus Green Room Stage at Glastonbury Festival for the last 8 years. She has have also been booked regularly by other events, including Stroud Fringe Festival, Clivey Fest and many others, including fairly regular performing at The Prince Albert, a fantastic pub, in Stroud.