Danh Pham

Biography

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Professor of Music, Conductor, WSU Symphony Orchestra, Director of Bands, Conducting

Danh Pham is a Conn-Selmer Educational Clinician, and the Music Director for both the Washington-Idaho Symphony Orchestra and the Coeur d’Alene Symphony Orchestra. He currently serves as Conductor of the WSU Symphony Orchestra, and Director of Bands at Washington State University.

Pham was recently named the 2025 Washington Governor’s Arts Commission Educator of the Year, the 2024 Washington Music Educators Association (WMEA) College/University Teacher of the Year, and the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) Music Teacher of the Year. In Spring 2024, he was inducted into the prestigious American Bandmasters Association, where he made his conducting debut with the United States Army Band (Pershing’s Own) in Washington D.C. Pham’s WSU honors include the Sahlin Faculty Excellence Award for Outreach and Engagement, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award, the College of Arts and Sciences Mid-Career Award.

Pham maintains a busy conducting schedule that includes international appearances throughout Asia. He most recently returned from Malaysia as conductor of the Southbridge Music Festival, and South Korea where he conducted the renowned Seogwipo Philharmonic Wind Orchestra (Korea’s only professional full-time wind ensemble) in concert, and served as conductor-in-residence at the Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival. He is a conductor for JCLink Music Publications recordings and clinics that serves several cities in mainland China staffed by a team of artists and teachers from China, the United States, Japan, Canada, and Hong Kong. He has taught at Guangzhou University, and conducted the Guangzhou Youth Cultural Palace Youth Symphony and Wind Ensemble, the Yucai Concert Band, the Foreign Language School Wind Band, and the Canton Military Band. Other guest appearances include positions with the Wuhan Conservatory of Music Wind Symphony, Huazhong Agricultural University Symphonic Band, the Ho Chi Minh Conservatory Of Music, and the Vietnam National Academy of Music. Professionally, he has conducted the Guang Xi Symphony Orchestra (Nanning, China) in their Gala Concert for the All South East Asia Nations New Music Week Celebration, the Saigon Wind Ensemble (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam), and the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet Orchestra (Hanoi, Vietnam).

At home, Pham has conducted professional and honor groups throughout the Pacific Northwest, New Mexico, Texas, South Carolina, and Hawaii. He has conducted All-State Bands in the States of Kansas and Washington, and has appeared as a conductor with the Palouse Chamber Players, the Pan-Pacific Ensemble, and the Palouse Brass Company. His own groups have appeared at the Western International Band Clinic, the MENC Biennial Northwest Conference, the Oregon Music Educators Association State Conference, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Southwest Convention. The WSU Symphonic Wind Ensemble was to tour South Korea prior to the pandemic.

Danh Pham serves on the Collegiate Advisory Board for the Western International Band Clinic, where he has conducted their Intercollegiate Honor Band on five occasions. He serves as a contributing Research Associate for the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series released by GIA Publications, and has presented at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the National Association for Music Education (Northwest Division) Conference, and the Washington Music Educators State Conference. He current serves as the Northwest Division Chair for the National Band Association, after serving as Coordinator for the State of Washington, and the Northwest Chair for the Dr. William P. Foster Project, an organization devoted to celebrating musical excellence through diversity. He has also served as Producer and Editor for solo compact disc recordings that have been released by Albany and Emeritus Records. Pham is the Coordinator for the Washington (State) Ambassadors of Music European Tour program for band, choir, and orchestra.

Originally from Honolulu, Hawaii, Pham received his degrees from DePauw University, Indiana University, and the University of Oklahoma. His conducting mentors include Ray Cramer, Stephen Pratt, William Wakefield, Craig Pare’, Orcenith Smith, and Harry Blake. Prior to his appointment at Washington State University, Pham held similar posts at McMurry University, Western Oregon University, Salem-Keizer Public Schools, and the Beaverton (OR) School District.