Kenneth Amis

From Wind Repertory Project
Kenneth Amis

Biography

Kenneth Amis (b. 1970, Bermuda) is an Bermudian-American (dual citizenship) composer, educator and tubist.

Mr. Amis began his musical exploits in his home country of Bermuda. He began playing the piano at a young age and upon entering high school took up the tuba and developed an interest in performing and writing music. A Suite for Bass Tuba, composed when he was only fifteen, marked his first published work. A year later, at age sixteen, he majored in composition and studied tuba with Chester Schmitz (of the Boston Symphony Orchestra) and Sam Pilafian (founding member of the Empire Brass). After graduating from Boston University and becoming a licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music, he attended the New England Conservatory where he earned a master’s degree in composition. In 2003 Mr. Amis became the youngest recipient of New England Conservatory of Music’s “Outstanding Alumni Award.”

An active composer, Mr. Amis has received commissions from several institutions and music organizations including the Belmont High School Band (Mass.), the Massachusetts Instrumental Conductors Association, the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, the University of Scranton (Penn.), College Band Directors National Association, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston and the Boston Classical Orchestra. He has undertaken residencies with educational institutions ranging from middle schools through the collegiate level and was a founding member and on the board of directors for the American Composers Forum New England Chapter. Audiences around the world have enjoyed Mr. Amis’s music through performances by such groups as the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Academy of Music Symphonic Winds, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Center Orchestra of Ottawa.

As a tuba player, Mr. Amis has performed as a soloist with such groups as the English Chamber Orchestra and has been a member of the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra and the New World Symphony Orchestra. His performance skills are showcased on many commercial records distributed internationally.

Mr. Amis has served on the faculties of Boston University Tanglewood Institute and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan; in 2007 he was composer-in-residence at the South Shore Conservatory in Massachusetts. Mr. Amis is presently the tuba player of the Empire Brass and the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra, a performing artist for Besson instruments, the assistant conductor for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Wind Ensemble, tuba professor at Boston University, Boston Conservatory, Longy School of Music, New England Conservatory and is tuba professor and wind ensemble director at the Conservatory at Lynn University. In 2023, Mr. Amis became director of bands at Boston University.


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