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Lam Named Illinois Symphony Orchestra Music Director

WGLT | By Charlie Schlenker
Published June 1, 2017 at 11:51 PM CDT
Ken Lam left an international legal and financial career to pursue music.
Ken Lam
Ken Lam left an international legal and financial career to pursue music.
Ken Lam left an international legal and financial career to pursue music.
Credit Ken Lam
Ken Lam left an international legal and financial career to pursue music.

The Illinois Symphony Orchestra has chosen its new music director. He is Ken Lam, currently the director of the symphony in Charleston, South Carolina.

Lam grew up in Hong Kong, went to college at 15 in England. He studied economics and law at Cambridge and embarked on a legal career in international finance. Lam said he wanted to be a violinist when he was a kid, though his elders discouraged the idea out of economic concerns. He played all through his school years and beyond. He was in the London Lawyers Orchestra and a variety of other community orchestras. Lam said one day, a conductor was absent because of the birth of a child and he filled in. He never looked back.GLT's Charlie Schlenker talks with Illinois Symphony Orchestra Music Director Ken Lam about his musical journey. This interview was recorded in December, before an ISO concert.

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Charlie Schlenker
WGLT Assistant News Director Charlie Schlenker grew up in Rock Island, Illinois and graduated from Augustana College. He has spent more than three decades in radio and has won numerous state and national awards for journalism. He lives in Normal with his family.
See stories by Charlie Schlenker