Sharon Kam
With an all-encompassing technique, deft interpretive sense, and broad repertory, Sharon Kam has established herself as one of the foremost clarinetists of her generation. Like many wunderkind instrumentalists, she made her major orchestral debut in her teens (at 16, with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic), won a major competition in her early twenties and became a recording star and international celebrity before she was 30. While she plays many of the standards by Mozart, Weber, Krommer, Schumann, Brahms, Debussy, and others, she is willing to take chances with contemporary works like Penderecki's concerto (of which she made the premiere recording in 1999), and totally unknown works like the concerto by Mendelssohn contemporary Julius Rietz, which she rediscovered and recorded to great acclaim. Based in Germany, Kam regularly appears in concert and at major festivals in Europe and the Americas. Her recordings are available on Teldec, Berlin Classics, Warner Classics, Sony, Arthaus Musik, Euroarts, and other major labels.
Sharon Kam was born in Israel in 1972. She comes from a musical family: her mother is Rachel Kam, longtime violist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and her brother is Ori Kam, concert violist. Music-making has also extended into Kam's marriage: her husband is German conductor Gregor Bühl, with whom she has concertized and recorded.
After playing violin and piano in her early childhood, Kam took up the clarinet and became a pupil of Eli Eban and Chaim Taub. She later studied under Charles Neidich at Juilliard.
After establishing a concert career in Israel in her teens, Kam was nominated for a Davidoff Prize in 1991, and then won the 1992 ARD Music Competition in Munich. She began recording for Teldec in the mid-'90s. Her album containing the Weber concertos and Grand Duo was awarded an Echo Klassik Prize in 1998. She would receive a second one in 2006 for her recording of works by Spohr, Mendelssohn, Weber, and Rossini, on Berlin Classics.
In between she appeared on several other popular recordings, made her debut at the 2003 Salzburg Festival and regularly appeared at other major concert venues across Europe and the Americas. She has collaborated in chamber repertory with some of the leading artists of the day, as well, including Christian Tetzlaff, Heinrich Schiff, and Lars Vogt. Among her later recordings is the 2009 Berlin Classics CD of Brahms sonatas and trios, with pianist Martin Helmchen and cellist Gustav Rivinius.
© TiVo
Discography
18 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Contrasts
Sharon Kam, Ori Kam, Matan Porat
Chamber Music - Released by Orfeo on 13 Sep 2019
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Weber, Kurpiński & Crusell: Works for Clarinet & Orchestra
Sharon Kam, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gregor Bühl
Classical - Released by Orfeo on 6 Mar 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Clarinet Concerto, K.622 & Clarinet Quintet, K.581
Sharon Kam, Österreichisch-Ungarische Haydn-Philharmonie
Classical - Released by Berlin Classics on 13 Sep 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Elatus - Krommer & Mozart : Clarinet Concertos (Elatus -)
Concertos - Released by Warner Classics International on 15 May 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet & Quatuor No 2
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 20 May 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann, Debussy, Poulenc & Françaix: Works for Clarinet and Piano
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
American Classics
Concertos - Released by Warner Classics International on 1 Jan 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Clarinet Recital: Kam, Sharon - Massenet, J. / Kreisler, F. / Granados, E. / Debussy, C. / Elgar, E. / Ponce, M.M. / Milhaud, D. (Souvenirs)
Classical - Released by Berlin Classics on 17 Oct 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sharon Kam Portrait - Virtuose Klarinettenmusik
Isabelle van Keulen, Martin Helmchen, Sharon Kam & Ruben Gazarian
Classical - Released by Berlin Classics on 22 Jul 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
RIETZ, J.: Clarinet Concerto, Op. 29 / BRUCH, M.: Concerto for Clarinet and Viola, Op. 88 / WEBER, C.M. von: Clarinet Quintet, Op. 34 (Kam)
Concertos - Released by Berlin Classics on 10 Sep 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
American Classics
Concertos - Released by Warner Classics International on 1 Jan 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weber: Clarinet Concertos & Grand Duo concertant
Sharon Kam, Itamar Golan, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Kurt Masur
Classical - Released by Warner Classics International on 11 Apr 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms, J.: Sonatas & Trio
Sharon Kam, Martin Helmchen & Gustav Rivinius
Classical - Released by Berlin Classics on 14 Sep 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Opera!
Sharon Kam, Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn & Ruben Gazarian
Classical - Released by Berlin Classics on 20 Sep 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sharon Kam Plays the Clarinet
Classical - Released by Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group on 19 Jun 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Penderecki: Works for Clarinet. Concerto, Sinfonietta No. 2 & Miniatures
Sharon Kam, Krzysztof Penderecki
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Thorsten Encke: A Portrait (Live)
musica assoluta, Paavo Järvi, Isabelle Faust, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Christian Tetzlaff, Sharon Kam
Classical - Released by Cavi-Music on 14 Jul 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pour Clarinette: Hindemith, Debussy, Trojahn & Poulenc (Live)
Lars Vogt, Sharon Kam, Diemut Schneider, Antje Weithaas, Gustav Rivinius, Paul Rivinius
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Berlin on 13 Jun 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo