Society of Peabody Alumni
Citation for the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association Global Achievement Award
Presented to
Ken Lam
October 25, 2015
The Alumni Association Global Achievement Award is 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.
Ken, one look at your life and career and it is clear that geographic boundaries mean nothing to you.
Your current positions have you in South Carolina where you are Music Director of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra; in Baltimore, where you are Associate Conductor for Education of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestras; in New Jersey, where you are Associate Professor and Director of Orchestral Studies at Montclair State University; in Hong Kong where you are Artistic Director of Hong Kong Voices; and in North Carolina where you are Resident Conductor of the Brevard Music Center.
You earned an MA in economics and a law degree from the University of Cambridge in England and spent 10 years as an attorney in London and Hong Kong before turning your focus and energy to music. It was at a master class in Bulgaria where you met Gustav Meier and he recommended that you come to Peabody.
Your studies at Peabody were a springboard for your successful and varied conducting career. You received your Master’s Degree in 2007 and made your US professional debut with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in 2008. Since then you have led performances with the symphony orchestras of Cincinnati, Baltimore, Detroit, Hong Kong, and Taipei among others, as well as numerous opera productions including acclaimed productions at the Spoleto Festival, Lincoln Center Festival and the Luminato Festival in Canada.
If the award was for frequent flier miles, you would certainly be a contender, but this award is for exemplifying the quality associated with Johns Hopkins and Peabody through your work, and we are here because you clearly do this every day.
Ken Lam, on behalf of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University it is our distinct honor to confer upon you the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association Global Achievement Award.