By Levi McGarry, College of Arts and Sciences
A short summer residency at Japan’s premier music conservatory yielded a big result for Danh Pham, conductor of the Washington State University Symphony Orchestra and director of Bands and Conducting.
Musashino Academia Musicae, the first university in Japan established specifically for musical study, has invited him to return in summer 2027 as a rotational conductor for its Wind Ensemble National Tour of Japan. With its main campus in Tokyo, MAM has expanded in recent years to multiple locations and has become one of Japan’s preeminent universities for music education and performance since its founding in 1929.
“Growing up in Hawaii, everything was imported, and you received as many items from Japan as you did from the United States,” said Pham, who also manages several student programs and is the music director for both the Washington-Idaho Symphony Orchestra and the Coeur D’Alene Symphony Orchestra. “So I grew up listening to many Japanese artists and performers, and recordings from the Musashino Academy were part of that.”
Pham’s nine-day residency at the conservatory in July was supported by the College of Arts and Sciences’ Research Enhancement Opportunity (REO) program, which helps faculty members apply for new research grants or high-impact fellowships that advance the applicant’s research, scholarship, or creative activity. REO funds are open to CAS faculty members who are developing, writing, or submitting a new and significant extramural grant or fellowship proposal. Information about the 2026-2027 REO cycle will be updated in November.
“I’m extremely grateful to the CAS Grants and Fellowship Support office. When I applied for the Research Exchange Opportunity, I was encouraged to apply by folks like Becky James and others,” said Pham. “From the support I received from WSU to the support from MAM, it was just a very fruitful venture and really great fortune every step of the way.”
Over the course of his short stay in Japan, Pham met with various stakeholders including university president Naoaki Fukui, faculty members from the Departments of Performance and Music, and current students in MAM classes. He traveled with the MAM Wind Ensemble as they performed in Yokohama and Saitama, providing feedback and advice as part of a collaborative exchange. Pham also had the opportunity to tour the MAM Musical Instrument Museum, a state-of-the-art facility that holds over 5,000 historical and rare musical instruments from around the world showcasing the lineage and historical development of musical production.
The brief experience was inspirational and invigorating for Pham. “I’ve been lucky enough over my career at WSU to have traveled to Asia several times,” said Pham. “Even though I did my dissertation work in Japan, I had not appeared there as a conductor or teaching instructor as a WSU faculty member. It felt very fulfilling to be able to come full circle from my dissertation work.”
For additional information about the REO program, including eligibility and application details, visit the College of Arts and Sciences internal funding opportunities webpage or email Becky James at elizabeth.james@wsu.edu.