Dennis Kam, chairman of the Music Theory and Composition department at the Frost School, has taught many of today’s active composers. Originally from Hawaii, he was educated at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Mozarteum in Austria, East-West Center at the University of Hawaii, Toho Gakuen in Japan, and the University of Illinois. As a composer, he has received many commissions, grants, and awards, including BMI and as composer-in-residence for Honolulu and the State of Hawaii under the auspices of the Ford Foundation/MENC Contemporary Music Project. He currently serves as composer-in-residence for the South Florida Youth Symphony. As a conductor, Kam directs the Other Music Ensemble at the University of Miami and, during 1982-1987, was music director/conductor of the Greater Miami Youth Symphony. An active member of the College Music Society (CMS) and Society of Composers, Inc, he began a term as president of the Southern Chapter of CMS in 2005. Since the 1980s, Kam’s works have represented a variety of interests: new tonal or post-atonal possibilities. Recent projects include an exploration of multiple versions of single works. Kam has been published by Belwin-Mills, Kalmus, Media Press, and Smith Publications, and recorded on Capstone and Living Artist labels.

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