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Rowan Collins

Rowan Collins was a White transgender violinist born around 2002–2003 and raised in Portland, Oregon. She had lived as herself since early childhood. She studied violin performance at the Juilliard School and lived in Meredith Willson Residence Hall. She was Travis Yoon’s friend and mentor and later performed on the posthumous recording of his arrangements. She was in a relationship with fellow Juilliard student Tyler Heard.

Education and Music

Rowan entered Juilliard in fall 2021 as a violin-performance student and lived in the school’s Meredith Willson Residence Hall. She was a senior in December 2024 and belonged to the class of 2025.

Rowan mentored Travis after he entered Juilliard in fall 2023. She stayed late to work with him, rearranged her practice schedule, and spent time with him in the residence hall discussing bowings and tempos. Both had encountered gendered assumptions about the violin from opposite directions, which became part of their connection as musicians.

Personality and Communication

Rowan was talkative with people she trusted and quiet in unfamiliar company or under stress. Her angular features could make her appear more severe than she was; her voice was warm and earnest, and her full, unguarded laugh often surprised people who knew only her reserved manner.

She held strong opinions about Baroque ornamentation and fast fashion. Her ethical commitments were quiet and practical, including buying most of her clothes secondhand.

Physical Appearance and Style

Rowan was five feet five inches tall, wiry, and compact. She had an angular face, high cheekbones, a defined jaw, clear blue eyes, fair skin with freckles across her nose and cheeks, and wavy auburn hair that she often wore slightly long. Years of violin practice had left her left shoulder slightly higher than her right, calluses on her fingertips, and a reddish-brown chin-rest mark along the left side of her jaw.

Her wardrobe consisted largely of thrifted clothes in earthy greens, browns, rust, and ochre. She frequently wore a slightly oversized vintage corduroy jacket. She kept seventeen houseplants in her living space.

Romantic and Significant Relationships

Travis Yoon

Main article: Rowan Collins and Travis Yoon

Rowan became Travis’s mentor and close friend during his first semester at Juilliard. When Travis was absent from the residence hall for four days in December 2024, Rowan waited for news and asked Ezra only whether Travis was alive. After Travis’s death, Ezra paid for Rowan and Tyler to fly to Evanston for the funeral and later included them in the New York City memorial. Rowan was also among the musicians who recorded Travis’s arrangements as a gift to the Yoon family.

Tyler Heard

Tyler was Rowan’s boyfriend and a fellow Juilliard student in the same entering cohort. He studied piano performance. In December 2024, he held Rowan together when she broke down in the residence-hall corridor after four days without knowing whether Travis was alive.

Memorable Quotes

“Is he alive.”

(Source: Travis Yoon’s Four-Day Absence (December 2024) - Event; Rowan to Ezra after four days without news of Travis.)

Characters Supporting Characters Living Characters White Characters LGBTQ+ Characters Musicians