Sharon Kam (1971- )

Sharon Kam est née le 11 août 1971 à Haifa, en Israël. Elle vit actuellement à Hanovre.

Gagnante de la Compétence Internationale de Munich en 1992, Sharon Kam a joué avec beaucoup d'orchestres renommés du monde. On peut citer l'Orchestre Symphonique de Chicago, l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Berlin, l'Orchestre Gewandhaus de Leipzig avec Kurt Masur, l'Orchestre Symphonique de Toronto, l'Orchestre Philharmonique d'Israël avec Zubin Mehta, l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Hambourg, de Munich et les Orchestres de la Radio de Frankfurt et l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Tokyo.

Elle a présenté des récitals à New-York, à Tokyo, Frankfurt, Munich, à Vancouver, à Jérusalem, Saint-Louis, Pittsburgh et Tel-Aviv, pour en nommer certains. Passionnée de musique de chambre, elle a collaboré avec les ensembles et les artistes de grand renom comme Isaac Severo, Yefim Bronfman, le Quatuor Guaneri au Carnegie Hall, le Quatuor de Cordes de Tokyo, Kim Kashkashian, Tabea Zimmermann, Christian Tetzlaff, et Barbara Bonney.

À 16 ans, Sharon Kam a fait ses débuts avec le Philharmonique d'Israël sous la conduite de Zubin Mehta. Elle a été invitée à participer au concert historique avec les Philharmoniques de Berlin et d'Israël jouant ensemble.

Dès 1995, Sharon Kam a gravé comme artiste exclusif pour Teldec Classics le répertoire le plus représentatif de la clarinette. Ses enregistrements incluent les concertos de Weber avec Kurt Masur et l'Orchestre Gewandhaus de Leipzig, qui a reçu le Prix Echo comme "instrumentiste de l'année". Comme résultat d'une longue collaboration avec le compositeur Krzysztof Penderecki, un disque compact a été réalisé en 1999 qui contient toutes ses oeuvres pour clarinette. Teldec Classics a produit en février 2002 son CD : "I got Rhytm - American Classics".

Poursuivant son chemin, elle a eu l'honneur de participer aux célébrations d'hommage à Mozart dans le cadre du 250ème anniversaire de sa naissance en jouant à Prague le concerto pour clarinette KV 622. Un DVD a été tiré de cette prestation.

Plus d'informations sur son site :

http://www.sharonkam.de (en anglais ou en allemand)

C'est à Sharon Kam que je dois mon premier CD avec le Concerto pour clarinette de Mozart ; CD qui comprend, en outre, le Concerto pour clarinette, op. 36 de Krommer.

J'ai donc un attachement tout particulier à cette artiste sunny

Sharon KAM a récemment donné une interview qui nous apprend à mieux la connaître :

Citation :: Hi! How are you? Where are you?
I am fine and am at the moment in Hannover, where I live.

What’s on your schedule right now?
I am playing Brett Dean’s “Ariel’s Music”, a concerto for clarinet and orchestra with the Hamburg Opera orchestra next weekend.

If you hadn’t chosen for music, what do you think you would do right now?
I would definitely be a scientist!

What or who was your biggest influence as an artist?
I would say the musical life around the Israel Philharmonic orchestra, where my mother still plays. I listened to so many wonderful orchestra and chamber music concerts as a child. I wanted to be part of this fascinating world!

What’s the hardest part about being a musician and what’s the best?
The hardest part is the traveling and being far away from the ones you love (children, husband, parents, friends). The best part is being able to touch people which my music and seeing their happy faces after a wonderful concert. I really still believe, that music makes people better!

What’s your view on the classical music scene at present? Is there a crisis?
I don’t think there is a crisis. I see wonderful education projects happening everywhere, making sure we will have an audience in the future. I also visited some schools and was positively surprised to find out how many children play an instrument. But I think the media (especially TV) is not using its incredible power to reach so many non-concert-goers and inspire them to take interest in classical music. Except the special arts channels, no channel has classical music as part of it’s regular program. And since so many people do nothing else than watch TV in their free time, I feel this is a big mistake.

Some feel there is no need to record classical music any more, that it’s all been done before. What do you tell them?
Young artists must establish themselves by recording ‘normal’ repertoire, which of course exists a thousand times on the market. Since this phase in my career is over, I try to record at lease one piece per CD, which is rarely or not at all recorded. This gives a legitimation to producing a new recording.

What constitutes a good live performance in your opinion? What’s your approach to performing on stage?
After a good performance one can’t just go to bed. The music keeps ones mind and soul busy for a while. One feels full of feelings to the point of exploding. A great performance stays in ones heart forever!

What does the word “interpretation” mean to you?
A musical Interpretation is just like a recitation. When a text is well read, we not only understand the (Note : la suite est manquante )

True or false: It is the duty of an artist to put his personal emotions into the music he plays.
True, but also never to forget, that the composer and his musical will must always be more important than the artist’s ego.

True or false: “Music is my first love”
Well, as a teenager I would probably say yes. Now, a wife and a mother of two, I must say no- my first love is my family.

True or false: People need to be educated about classical music, before they can really appreciate it.
False- one can walk into a museum without ever seeing a Picasso and still find the painting fantastic or horrible. Great art evokes emotions. That is what art is about.

You are given the position of artistic director of a concert hall. What would be on your program for this season?
I would put Hindemith’s clarinet concerto somewhere in the season. In general, I would try to mix some wonderful but less known pieces with all time bestsellers.

What’s your favourite classical CD at the moment?
I never listen to classical music in my free time! I listen to Sting quite a lot though.

Have you ever tried playing a different instrument? If yes, how good were you at it?
I played the violin as a three year old, the Piano with five and recorders with seven. I was a miserable violinist, quite a bad pianist but a wonderful recorder player. I guess I was born to blow! As an adult, I bought myself am alto Saxophone. I am not quite good YET, but I never have time to practice. When I do practice an hour, I feel I could get there soon, if I only had the time…