Lanny L. Collins

1942 -

Lanny Collins, accomplished organ, harpsichord, and piano performer and accompanist, taught organ in two Seventh-day Adventist colleges and was assistant organist at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon, for twenty years, from 1984 to 2004. The cathedral houses the internationally acclaimed Rosales tracker organ, opus 11.

He also served as Finance Officer at the cathedral, twelve years as Canon for Finance and Administration for the Episcopalian Diocese of Oregon, and three years as Treasurer for the Episcopal Church in Province VIII before retiring in 2008.

Collins began playing piano at age six and by age fourteen was organist at a Lutheran church in his hometown of Orlando, Florida. He completed a bachelor's degree with majors in music and business administration at Andrews University in 1964 and an M.Mus. at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, in 1971. A student of Warren Becker, John Fesperman, John Hamilton, Guy Bovet, Catharine Crozier, and noted performer and music historian Harold Gleason, Collins taught at Union College from 1966 to 1971.

While subsequently working at Home Study Institute, a Seventh-day Adventist correspondence school located near Washington, D.C., he played frequently as an organist and accompanist in the area, including a stint as organist for the Takoma Park SDA Church. In 1977 he accepted a position at Walla Walla College, now University, where he taught organ and music history and was the church organist for six years. He has lived in Portland since 1983.

An avid student and creative interpreter of organ music, he has given a number of recitals in his career. He was organist in a performance of Joseph Jongen's Symphonie Concertante in 1979 by the Walla Walla Symphony and soloist with them in a performance of Poulenc's Concerto for Organ in 1982. He performed the Saint Saens Symphony No. 3 with the Oregon Symphony, James De Priest, conductor, in 2002.

Collins also works as a contract line editor for the Amadeus Press in Portland, a publisher of scholarly music books. He assisted in the editing of Antonio Vivaldi - The Red Priest of Venice by Karl Heller (translated from the German), Rosa Ponselle - A Centenary Biography by James A. Drake, and Opera in Context - Essays on Historical Staging from the Late Renaissance to the Time of Puccini by Mark A. Radice.

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Sources: Information provided by Lanny Collins, 2013; Records in the Walla Walla University Music Department; Deidre Steinberg, "Lanny Collins, diocesan organ master, retires," Oregon Episcopal Church News, January 2005, 7; personal knowledge.