Back

Janell Collier has played first violin with the Pops since 1991. Before assuming her current position as concertmaster in 2006, she performed as assistant concertmaster. A multi-faceted musician, she holds a degree in organ performance from the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she also played in the Tucson Symphony and Arizona Opera before moving to Oregon.

She uses her organ-playing skills at Wilshire United Methodist Church, where she is organist and choir director, and her other educational skills as Director of Education at Rose City Park United Methodist Church. She says she started playing piano at age three, so has literally never known a life without music. She began violin lessons in the fifth grade. As an organist/choir director, she is also an active soprano singer, a skill she has used in past seasons as part of the pops Christmas Choir (sometimes with her husband David, who also began violin lessons as an adult).

Few lives can be filled with music alone; to broaden their lives, Janell, David and grown daughter Sarah are also very involved with Portland’s Ladybug Theater, where they perform at least once per season.