Kenneth Amis was born and raised in 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 enrolled in Boston University where he majored in composition. After graduating from Boston University he attended the New England Conservatory of Music where he received his Masters Degree, also in composition.
Mr. Amis is presently the tuba player of the Empire Brass and the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra, the assistant conductor for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Wind Ensemble, and a performing artist for Besson instruments. He has performed as a soloist with 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 and in 2007 was Composer-in-residence at the South Shore Conservatory in Massachusetts. In 2003 he became the youngest recipient of New England Conservatory of Music’s “Outstanding Alumni Award.”
An active composer, Mr. Amis has been commissioned over a dozen times and has written for many organizations including the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, the University of Scranton, the College Band Directors National Association and a consortium of twenty universities and music organizations. He has also undertaken commissions/residences with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the New England Conservatory of Music, and the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association. His music is published by Subito Corp., Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. and through his own company, Amis Musical Circle.
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 Hong Kong Sinfonietta, the Boston Classical Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and others.
Teaching Philosophy
“Learning in the fine and performing arts should be a part of every person’s education. Active participation in music and the visual arts in general engages students through their minds, bodies, and senses; in particular, develops skills in self-discipline, flexible ways of thinking, concentration, decision-making, physical coordination and perception. Successful participation in arts activities builds confidence self-esteem and a sense of responsibility and accomplishment. In addition, arts study can develop an aesthetic awareness and sensitivity that, in turn, can provide opportunities for lasting recognition of excellence and quality. I endeavor to not only guide each student through an investigation of their relationship with the performing arts, but to pass on to them the knowledge of how to become their own best teacher so that they may pursue a lifelong exploration, development and enjoyment of music and the performing arts.”