The Australian violinist Susan Collins was born in 1966. In a letter to the legendary Josef Gingold, Henryk Szeryng describes Ms Collins as "a remarkably gifted young violinist". In 1981 she was the youngest artist engaged professionally to appear as soloist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Susan received her undergraduate degree at Sydney Conservatorium of Music before going to Berlin where she studied at the Hochschule der Kunste under Thomas Zehetmair in 1989. Ms Collins received her Master of Music degree from Indiana University at Bloomington, studying with Josef Gingold and Yuval Yaron, in 1991.

Despite her numerous professional commitments, Ms Collins commenced work on her Doctor of Creative Arts degree at Wollongong University in 1996, for which she is researching performance practice of contemporary string repertoire. Prior to commencing tertiary study in Australia Ms Collins was the recipient of a scholarship from California State University as well as from the American String Teachers Association enabling one year of study in the USA. Upon returning to Australia, she was awarded many prestigious scholarships and awards available to young Australian musicians. These included the Musicians Scholarship for Overseas Study (1986), the NSW Teachers Association Scholarship (1987), the Sydney Conservatorium's Scarfe Award for Excellence (1987) and a Victorian Arts Council Scholarship to participate in Master Classes with Pinchas Zukerman.

At the completion of her study in Berlin, Ms Collins received a major grant from the Australian Council enabling pursuit and completion of a Masters Degree at Indiana University's School of Music. As a chamber music and orchestral musician, Susan Collins' experience is diverse and wide-ranging. Whilst in Berlin, she was a member of Ensemble Oriol. As a student at Indiana University, she was a member of that institutions distinguished Early Music Ensemble, working and performing with artists including Monica Huggett and John Holloway.

In 1992 Ms Collins returned to Australia. She auditioned for and was awarded the position of Deputy Concertmaster of the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, a position that she has served until the present. Throughout this time Ms Collins has regularly acted as Concertmaster for the AOBO as well as for the Sydney Opera House Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. In addition to the above, Ms Collins' maintains a personal commitment to her class of violin students. She teaches both violin and chamber music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and has directed Ensemble Studies as Wollongong University.