Quinn Collins

Quinn Collins is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Swarthmore College and part-time faculty at The College of New Jersey, specializing in music technology. He is also a composer, improviser, sound designer, bass guitarist, and electronics performer based in Philadelphia.

Education:

• Bachelor of Music in Composition – University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music
• Master of Music in Composition – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• PhD in Composition – Princeton University

Research & Creative Work:

Collins’s scholarly and artistic activities revolve around composition, improvisation, and sound design, with a particular focus on integrating electronics into contemporary music practice. His doctoral dissertation comprises both a critical essay examining harmony within noise in late-1980s Sonic Youth and an original composition for percussion quartet and electronics.

As a performer, Collins is active in several ensembles: he is half of the modular-synthesizer duo llama/lama; manipulates turntables, samplers, and electronics in the improvisational noise-pop trio The Miz'ries; and plays bass guitar in the rotating-member ensemble Erik Ruin's Ominous Cloud Ensemble.

Creative Leadership:

Collins co-founded and serves as co-artistic director of the independent music label Belts & Whistles, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2024, further demonstrating his commitment to contemporary and experimental music communities.