He began playing the clarinet aged seven after attending a London Symphony Orchestra performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade suite, which inspired him to take up the instrument.
[4] At the age of 16, he won the 1978 BBC Young Musician woodwind prize and performed at the competition's inaugural grand finale.
[8] Collins has a large repertoire which includes several works by British composers, like Elgar, Vaughan Williams, and Britten.
He has also commissioned and performed various works by modern composers; pieces premiered by Collins include Adams' Gnarly Buttons, Turnage's Riffs and Refrains, Dean's Ariel's Music and Elliott Carter's Clarinet Concerto.
[11] In 2019, he appeared in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Legends series, where he was described as "one of the top clarinettists on the world stage at th[at] moment".