Kam Kee Yong is a violinist, composer, visual artist and educator who has made significant contributions to the Singapore music scene. He greatly increased the Southeast Asian region’s repertoire of original works for the Western orchestra with Nanyang-influenced compositions and helped to nurture generations of musicians with his establishment of the Singapura String Orchestra in 1970, and the School of Music and Children’s Art and the People’s Association String Orchestra for Children in 1981. In 1984, Kam received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to music in Singapore.

Born on 28 Feb 1938 in Penang, Malaysia, Kam Kee Yong grew up in a village in Jelutong surrounded by nature. His father was a teacher and a leader of a jazz band who played the clarinet, and Kam inherited his passion for music. At age 10, Kam received the gift of a violin, which he had been asking for, and started learning how to play the instrument from his father. Kam then went on to study under a violin teacher, Mr Louis Lim of Penang, for five years. Equally enthused about art, he spent his free time drawing the natural surroundings in his village.

A young Kam, who already had the impulse to compose his own music, practised his violin for hours every day and spent his nights improvising on his violin outside his house. While he was in primary school, Kam got his first recording and performance experiences. He was invited to record a programme of violin pieces for Radio Malaysia and also performed with his father’s jazz band on Radio Malaysia, playing the violin and drums.

Unable to find a suitable violin teacher in Singapore, he chose art first as a subject for further studies. In 1959, Kam moved to Singapore to attend the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore on a Lee Foundation scholarship. However, finding the lessons there restrictive, Kam spent most of his time sketching the sights around Chinatown and the Singapore River instead. Towards the end of the year, he returned to Penang to hold a fundraising recital so that he could study music overseas. The recital was attended by Penang rubber tycoon and philanthropist Tan Boon Peng, who eventually helped to raise enough money for Kam. In 1960, Kam moved to London to study music at the Royal Academy of Music.

At the academy, he studied the violin and had many opportunities to lead string quartets. He soon composed his first string quartet piece String Quartet No. 1 in B minor, a work which, infused with traditional Chinese music influences, impressed his peers and professors, and was performed in a school concert. However, this was not enough to persuade the academy’s dean that Kam be allowed to study composition.

Undaunted, Kam composed his second string quartet piece String Quartet No. 2 in D Minor (Malaysian). He premiered the piece leading a string quartet in 1963 at an academy concert, and this convinced the dean to allow him to study composition. Kam went on to receive the Gowland Harrison Award for violin performance and the John E. West Prize for composition for String Quartet No. 2 in D Minor (Malaysian).

During his years at the academy, Kam also continued to paint, and held exhibitions of his works in various galleries around London. Short on funds, he sold his paintings to supplement his income.

At the end of 1965, Kam returned to Singapore determined to contribute to developing the arts in Singapore with his music training. He taught the violin and in 1970, founded the Singapura String Orchestra, for which he would conduct and compose music for 11 years. After which, in 1981, he established the Kam Kee Yong School of Music and Children’s Art as well as the People’s Association String Orchestra, which was made up of children ages six to 14.

His passion for the arts drove him to develop and nurture his students and the members of his orchestras. He composed many classical pieces that he premiered at the several concerts he presented with both his orchestras. Kam headed the Kam Kee Yong School of Music and Children’s Art and the People’s Association String Orchestra until the late ’80s, dedicating much time to training his young students, including his daughter, Kam Ning, who would become an internationally acclaimed violinist.

Committed to creating original works since the beginning of his music career and a passionate advocate of composing with an original voice, Kam created several works—comprising orchestral, chamber, choral and solo instrumental—that reflected the character and culture of Singapore. His compositions combined Western instrumentation and structures with Chinese narratives, motifs and sounds.

Chinatown Suite, written in 1985, was composed of 20 short movements presenting the colour and activity of old Chinatown through music. Kam also composed commissions such as Chung Kuo Kuang Hsi Chü (1978) for the TOKK Ensemble of Tokyo, and The Five Sentiments (1982) for ballet and orchestra for the Ministry of Culture of Singapore, conducting its premiere at the Singapore Arts Festival with the Festival Orchestra. He also made recordings of his works such as Chinatown Suite (1985) and Marine Parade Suite (1985) performed by the People’s Association String Orchestra under his baton for WEA Records. Kam also gained a reputation as a champion of Singapore compositions, performing them at his concerts.

In 1984, Kam received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to music in Singapore.

Throughout his music career, Kam also continued to develop his love for painting. He held his first solo exhibition in Singapore in 1972, and, held solo exhibitions in both Singapore and Toronto through the ’90s. In 2000, he published an art book, Colour and Sound, which highlighted his two passions. For Kam, music and art “are so much connected they are the same thing—one in sound and one in colour” (National Library Board interview, 2010).

In 1989, Kam and his family migrated to Toronto, Canada, where he would found the Avant Garde School of Children’s Art and Music the following year. He continued composing there and his sonata Huai Gu was selected for its New York City premiere by North/South Consonance, Inc in 1992. The next year, he became an associate member of the Canadian Music Centre. In 2001, the album Cicada: The Complete Works for Violin and Piano by Kam Kee Yong, recorded by Kam Ning and pianist David Laughton, was released.

Kam continues to compose and paint. His daughter Kam Ning, and son Francis Kam, carry on the classical torch in the family. Recently, in 2010, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra dedicated half its concert programme to the performance of Kam’s compositions, with Kam Ning as a guest soloist.