Ken Lam

Meridian Symphony Orchestra's Guest Conductor for the September 24, 2011 concert "A French Connection"

Ken is the winner of the 2011 Memphis International Conducting Competition. He is Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Resident Conductor of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina and has recently been appointed Orchestra Director at Montclair State University (NJ) and Artistic Director of the Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestra.

Ken was a featured conductor in the League of American Orchestra’s 2009 Bruno Walter National Conductors Preview with the Nashville Symphony and made his US professional debut with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in June 2008 as one of four conductors selected by Leonard Slatkin. Last season he gave concerts with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. In the US he has also worked with the St Louis and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras. He was Principal Conductor of the Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra from 2001-2007.

In opera, he regularly directs productions of the Janiec Opera Company at Brevard and was Assistant Conductor at both Cincinnati Opera and Baltimore Lyric Opera. He was Assistant Conductor to Lorin Maazel at the Castleton Festival for two Britten chamber opera productions. His recent production of Massenet’s Manon at Peabody Conservatory was hailed by the Baltimore Sun as "among the best Peabody Opera ventures, overall, of the past decade."

Also active in choral music, Ken has been Artistic Director of Hong Kong Voices since 2000 and directed the choral program at the University of Hong Kong for three years before moving to the US in 2005.

Passionate about education, Ken is conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra. He works regularly with students throughout the tri-state area and led the Kentucky All-State Orchestra at KMEA 2011. As Education Artistic Director of the World Piano Competition he plans and hosts all of their educational outreach activities throughout the year. As Resident Conductor of Brevard Music Center he works with both their college and high school orchestras and collaborates with faculty and students of the composition department regularly.

He read economics at St. John's College, Cambridge University and was a practicing solicitor specializing in asset finance for ten years with the international law firm Clifford Chance and was a director and manager at the classical label Naxos.

He is also a keen golfer and tennis player and was a past president of the Cambridge University Chinese Society.

Ivan Del Prado

Meridian Symphony Orchestra's Guest Conductor for the October 15, 2011 concert "Catch A Rising Star"

Recognized as one of the most gifted conductors in Cuba and Latin America, Del Prado was the Principal Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, the Gran Teatro de La Habana Orchestra and the Baja California Orchestra. He has appeared as guest conductor with twenty orchestras from Europe, Asia, the U.S.A and Latin America as well. His versatility spans the worlds of symphony, opera and ballet. Currently, he is assistant conductor of the University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra and General Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Havana, which he founded in 2006.

Del Prado, who was born in the Cuban city of Holguin, studied violin and viola before receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Orchestra Conducting Summa Cum Laude from the Instituto Superior de Arte (Havana’s High Institute of Arts),Cuba. During his years as a student it is worth mentioning his role as the conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of the Institute for four years, as well as his responsibility in the foundation of the movement of Cuban youth symphony orchestras as well the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Havana, Cuba.

He assumed the position of Principal Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba at 25 and kept it for almost ten years, through which he conducted more than two hundred concerts that included pieces from an international repertoire of all periods, as well as world premieres and Cuban premieres. Del Prado reorganized work and programming of the orchestra and conducted international and national tours as well as TV programs, movie music and CD recordings.

Del Prado, the only Cuban conductor who has interpreted all of Beethoven’s nine symphonies in consecutive concerts, has been invited to conduct numerous symphony orchestras.

The Opera has given Del Prado the opportunity to collaborate with many important artists.

The world of ballet has taken Del Prado to musically conduct important companies such as the National Ballet of Cuba and the Deutsch Staatsoper Unter den Linden Ballet, which have taken him on tour in the USA, Spain and China.

Del Prado has been awarded the “Distinction for his role in the Cuban National Culture,” one of the highest honors bestowed to relevant personalities of Cuban culture.

Colman Pearce

Meridian Symphony Orchestra's Guest Conductor for the December 3, 2011 Peppermint Pops concert

"A Celtic Holiday Celebration"

which will include performances from the Mithril Celtic Ensemble, Meridian Symphony Chorus and Cambiata Children's Chorus  

Born in Dublin, Ireland, a graduate of University College Dublin.  Colman Pearce studied conducting in Vienna under the tutelage of famed conducting professor Hans Swarovski (Claudio Abbado and Zubin Meta being amongst his distinguished protégés).

As Principal Conductor of the RTE Symphony Orchestra from 1981 to 1983, he performed for radio, television and on the concert stage, including, leading the orchestra in the Gala opening of Ireland’s National Concert Hall.  

From 1984 to 1987 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra (Spain). 

A Naxos/Marco Polo Recording Artist, Colman has recorded, with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the music of Irish composers Charles Stanford, Gerard Victory, Brian Boydell, John Buckley, Frank Corcoran, Raymond Deane, Seoirse Bodley and James Wilson.  His other recordings for Naxos include operas and orchestral compositions by Spanish composer Leonardo Balada, performed with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra.

Having returned to his native Ireland, Pearce became Principal Guest Conductor of the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1999.