Artistic Director

Ken Lam. © Alyona Semenov

Ken Lam 林敬基

Ken is Music Director of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (SC), Music Director of Illinois Symphony Orchestra, and Resident Conductor of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina. He is also Artistic Director of Hong Kong Voices.

In 2011 Ken won the Memphis Symphony Orchestra International Conducting Competition and was a featured conductor in the League of American Orchestra’s 2009 Bruno Walter National Conductors Preview with the Nashville Symphony. He made his US professional debut with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in June 2008 as one of four conductors selected by Leonard Slatkin. In recent seasons he led performances with the symphony orchestras of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Pops, Baltimore, Detroit, Memphis, Hawaii, Brevard and Meridian, as well as the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Guiyang Symphony and the Taipei Symphony Orchestra.

In opera, he directed numerous productions of the Janiec Opera Company at Brevard and was Assistant Conductor at Cincinnati Opera, Baltimore Lyric Opera and at the Castleton Festival. In recent seasons, he led critically acclaimed productions at the Spoleto Festival USA, Lincoln Center Festival and at the Luminato Festival in Canada. His run of Massenet’s Manon at Peabody Conservatory was hailed by the Baltimore Sun as a top ten classical event in the Washington D.C/Baltimore area in 2010.

Previously Ken held positions as Associate Conductor for Education of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Principal Conductor of the Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra.

Ken studied conducting with Gustav Meier and Markand Thakar at Peabody Conservatory. David Zinman and Murry Sidlin at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen and Leonard Slatkin at the National Conducting Institute. He read economics at St. John’s College, Cambridge University and was an attorney specializing in international finance for ten years before becoming a conductor.

Ken is the 2015 recipient of the John Hopkins University Alumni Association Global Achievement Award, given to individuals who exemplify the Johns Hopkins tradition of excellence and have brought credit to the University and their profession in the international arena.

香港出生的林敬基現任美國查爾斯頓交響樂團及伊利諾伊州交響樂團音樂總監，同時是北卡羅萊納州布里瓦特音樂中心駐場指揮、以及香港和聲藝術總監。

林敬基是2011年孟菲斯國際指揮大賽的冠軍。2008年，他與另外三位指揮獲史拉堅挑選，在美國甘迺迪中心指揮美國國家交響樂團，這亦是他在美國的正式首演。翌年，他在美國樂團聯盟的華爾特指揮試演中指揮納什維爾交響樂團。近年，他曾指揮辛辛那堤、巴爾的摩、底特律、孟菲斯、莫里迪恩、夏威夷、布里瓦德等美國交響樂團，以及香港小交響樂團、香港管弦樂團、貴陽交響樂團和臺北市立交響樂團等。

在歌劇方面，他曾為布里瓦特音樂中心珍尼克歌劇院的多個製作執棒，他亦曾在辛辛那堤歌劇院、巴爾的摩歌劇院和卡斯爾頓音樂節擔任助理指揮。他在美國斯波萊托藝術節、紐約林肯中心藝術節以及多倫多光影藝術節指揮過多個歌劇製作，廣受讚譽。他在皮博迪音樂學院指揮馬斯奈的《曼儂》，被《巴爾的摩太陽報》讚賞為華盛頓及巴爾的摩區十大古典音樂節目。

林敬基曾於美國皮博迪音樂學院跟隨米亞和達加學習指揮、於亞斯彭的美國指揮學院隨冼文及薜迪連學習，和於美國國家指揮學院隨史拉堅學習。他曾任巴爾的摩交響樂團副指揮（教育）、辛辛那堤交響樂團助理指揮和香港室樂團首席指揮。在成為職業指揮之前，林敬基在英國劍橋大學修讀經濟，並當過十年執業律師。

林敬基2015年獲美國霍普金斯大學頒贈全球成就獎，表揚他展現出霍普金斯大學優越的傳統，並為大學及其專業領域作出貢獻。