Kam Ning

Who is Kam Ning?

Kam Ning is a renowned violinist and daughter of violinist-composer Kam Kee Yong. Born in Singapore in 1975, she was given violin lessons at the age of six by the elder Kam, and had her early education at the Methodist Girls' School.

In 1987 she received scholarships from the Lee Foundation and Shaw Foundation to study in the Yehudi Menuhin School, where she attended lessons and masterclasses conducted by Lord Menuhin himself and collaborated with him in chamber and orchestral performances at the age of 11. In her second year at the school, she played at the Royal Festival Hall with the Wren Orchestra of London, and her debut performance to a packed Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore. In 1993, Kam furthered her music education at the Curtis Institute of Music to study with Jaime Laredo and Yumi Scott and received her Bachelor Degree there. She graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music with a Masters of Music Degree and an Artist Diploma in 2001, under the tutelage of Donald Weilerstein.

The young Kam appeared in an episode of the popular British television programme Blue Peter when she was eight, playing Paganini's Caprice No.5 in a segment featuring students from the Yehudi Menuhin School. In 1990, Kam received the Outstanding Young Artist of the Competition prize in the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition in Britain and in 1991, she won first prize in the Junior Section of the Folkestone Menuhin International Violin Competition, in Britain. She was awarded the Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council in 2000. In 2001 her performance took the second place Prix du Gouvernement Fédérale Belge Eugéne Ysaye in the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Belgium in 2001.