Isis Collier, a fifteen-year-old 10th grade honor student at the Virgin Islands Montessori School and Peter Gruber International Academy (VIMSPGIA), has once again been accepted to the prestigious Sphinx Performance Academy (SPA) Summer String Program at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio. Collier is a violinist under the tutelage of Julie Beistline, instructor of the Suzuki Violin and Viola Program. The program, funded in part by a grant from the V.I. Council on the Arts, is open to the public and is located at the school.
Collier was accepted by auditioning for one of 30 nationally vetted seats for the two-week, fully-funded room and board as well as sessions of master classes in quartet and chamber music for black and Latino students of string instruments ages 13-17. The Sphinx Organization, founded by Aaron Dworkin, is now in its 20th year as a major producer of black and Latino soloist and top violinist for symphonies, orchestra’s and quartets throughout the nation and the world.
With her acceptance, she has also garnered a $1000 AT&T Scholarship and Tillet Foundation Arts Alive Music Scholarship, which will help defray the cost to travel to and from Ohio.
At V.I. Montessori School and Peter Gruber International Academy, Collier is also a member of the varsity volleyball and soccer teams, and The Glee Club. She is also a member of the school’s Rotary Sunrise’s Interact Club. She is also a violinist with the Virgin Islands Philharmonic under the direction of .James Gumbs and Leah Aronin. Collier also has stretched her love of singing, dancing and acting as a summer stock student of the Pistarckle Theatre where she has held major roles in “The Wiz,” “Annie,” “Hairspray” and in its leadership camps.
Her mother is Marcella Jennings-Collier (Jaribu Bobo), and her father is Edward Collier (1941-2011) better known as Nab Eddie Bobo.