Sharon Kam hails from Israel, where she studied with Eli Eban and Chaim Taub. At the age of 16, she made her orchestra début with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta. Later, she was invited to participate in the historic joint concert of the Berlin and Israel Philharmonics, a performance video-recorded by Sony Classics and released in 1992. Encouraged by Isaac Stern, she graduated from the Juilliard School of Music, where she studied with Charles Neidich.
Winner of the 1992 ARD International Competition in Munich, Sharon Kam has since performed with orchestras of greatest renown in the US, Europe, and Japan. A frequent participant in prestigious festivals, she is a regular guest at Lars Vogt’s Spannungen Festival in Heimbach (Germany). In Summer 2003 she made her début at the Salzburg Festival, where she was immediately reengaged for 2005 and 2006.
Sharon Kam eagerly performs contemporary music including works by Manfred Trojahn und Brett Dean. She participated in the premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Clarinet concerto and Clarinet quartet, and Peter Ruzicka’s Clarinet concerto “Erinnerung”, to name a few. The artist regularly collaborates with a range of chamber musicians including Heinrich Schiff, Lars Vogt, Stefan Vladar, Christian Tetzlaff, Marie-Luise Neunecker, Antje Weithaas, Gustav Rivinius, Tabea Zimmermann, and Leonidas Kavakos, as well as with the Tokyo, Artemis, Artis, Kuss, and American String Quartets.
Sharon Kam's recordings for Teldec include the Weber concertos with Kurt Masur and the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig awarded the Echo Prize for the Instrumentalist of the Year in 1998, a recital CD with the pianist Itamar Golan, and a recording of Mozart’s and Krommer’s concertos. In 1999 her recording of Krzysztof Penderecki’s clarinet works conducted by the composer was released. Her American Classics disc recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by her husband Gregor Bühl, was awarded the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik Award by German music critics. Her most recent CD with the Leipzig Radio Orchestra includes works by Spohr, Weber, Rossini, and Mendelssohn.