In Australian-Lebanese composer Katia Geha’s Quartet for the Broken World, four performers employ a variety of objects—feathers and pencils, keys and coins, scissors and saws, and finally hammers—to destroy a brick over the course of several minutes. The transformation of this object into debris functions as an engrossing meditation on societal instability and dissolution. When a group of DMA students from BGSU performed this piece this past summer, however, it also became something else: a moment of connection across cultures.

Last month, shortly before the new academic year began at BGSU, a group of seven graduate students from the College of Musical Arts who specialize in contemporary music completed a residency at Mahidol University, Thailand’s flagship university. Over the course of ten days, they presented a series of performance and composition masterclasses, workshops, readings, and concerts that allowed student-musicians from both universities to explore ground both common and uncommon in the field of contemporary music.

The project came about after BGSU faculty members Justin Johnston, Ken Thompson, and Piyawat Louilarpprasert (now Dean of Mahidol’s College of Music) spent two weeks in 2024 as guest instructors at Mahidol. “We were struck by the spirit of entrepreneurship there,” Johnston said, “and realized there was great potential for a contemporary music residency program.”

Over the first several days of the residency, the self-proclaimed BGSU Nü(mú)crū—comprising DMA students Haley Harrison (clarinets), Sam Valancy (saxophones), Wesley Nielsen (trombones), Liam Battle (cello), Jacob Koch (percussion), and Will Hermanowski (composition); and MM student Kai Frueh (piano)—held readings of works by Mahidol student composers. “I enjoyed learning about the students’ music-making process, the music they enjoy listening to, and all the projects they were curious about pursuing,” Hermanowski said. These composition readings culminated in a concert of Mahidol student works on August 14.

The masterclasses also proved to be learning experiences for all involved. “While teaching,” Nielsen reflected, “I came to realize the significant pedagogical differences between how I was taught to conceptualize music and how the Thai students have been taught.” As a result, Nielsen said, he focused on encouraging students to explore more creative interpretations of their pieces. Koch, who visited Indonesia to study drumming prior to arriving in Thailand, described the residency as “a wonderful opportunity for the exchange of knowledge and friendship.”

Along with works by Geha and Mahidol student composers, the Nü(mú)crū presented music by George Lewis, Lily Koslow, inti figgis-vizueta, and Yeonsuk Jung, among others, as well as the world premiere of Hermanowski’s rip, run, ruin. The ensemble also found time to explore music-making outside Mahidol’s College of Music. On one night, they attended a Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra concert; on another, they gave an improvised noise concert at D Kommune, a local bar.

The first concert at Mahidol on August 7, which included Quartet for a Broken World, arguably made the largest impression. “We were pleased to perform that show to a standing room only crowd that included faculty, university students, and pre-college students,” Johnston said. “One of the Mahidol faculty members said the concert would become a mythical event in the life of the college.” Nielsen noted that the performances were “quite literally a smashing success.”

The residency at Mahidol is a testament to the international reach of BGSU’s College of Musical Arts and its DMA in Contemporary Music program. To date, more than one-third of the doctoral program’s graduates have been international students, reflecting ties to more than a dozen different countries in South and Central America, the Middle East, Europe, and East Asia.