In May of 2025, more than 70 members of The Ohio State University Wind Symphony embarked on a two-week cultural and musical odyssey across Japan. This tour was an opportunity to share music on an international stage and represent Ohio State halfway across the world.
Covering five cities, the trip started with Director of Bands Russel Mikkelson’s desire to create something extraordinary for the students — a transformative international journey meant to inspire, enlighten and expand their horizons.
“Ohio State students should graduate with two things: a world-class education, and personal experience with at least one culture beyond their own.”
Drums, temples and Tokyo streets
The Wind Symphony began their tour in Tokyo, Japan’s vibrant capital where they visited the Meiji Shrine, Takeshita Street and the Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa. Students delved into traditional cultural experiences from a sushi-making lesson with a master chef to feeling the vibrating boom of Japanese percussion with a hands-on taiko drum workshop. The taiko masters provided an electrifying, hands-on experience that set the rhythm for the rest of the trip.
Speaking the universal language
The tour’s first performance took place in Tokyo’s Beethoven Hall at the Musashino Academia Musicae, where the venue provided resounding acoustics for the group as an audience of over 700 people enjoyed a full program from the Wind Symphony. The ensemble experienced the appreciativeness of the Japanese crowd when they performed not one, but two encores to the applause of the attendees. Following the concert, students from the Wind Symphony and the Musashino Academia Musicae combined for a group social hour, fostering a sense of camaraderie with their Japanese peers and highlighting the importance of making connections.
A bullet train and breathtaking views
The second leg of the tour took the group by bus from Tokyo to Hakone, with stops at Mount Fuji and Lake Ashi before ending the evening at a traditional Japanese inn. The following morning, the group traveled to Kyoto on a bullet train traveling over 175 miles per hour. Once there, students explored the different views of Kyoto including a bamboo grove, Kinkaku-ji, Kiyomizu-dera, and Fushimi Inari Taisha before their next performance in Osaka.
Bridging cultures through music
Once the group arrived in Osaka, it had the opportunity to perform at Expo 2025, where chamber groups from the Wind Symphony took the stage at the USA Pavilion.
Doctor of Musical Arts student Shawn Davern was among those who had the opportunity to perform. “Getting the opportunity to attend the World Expo in Osaka and share a piece that I wrote for my friends in the Wind Symphony trombone section was incredible,” said Davern.
While in Osaka, the Wind Symphony had a unique opportunity to watch and perform alongside the Osaka Gyosei Wind Orchestra. Prior to the concert, students from both groups rehearsed and were able to share stories, laughs and gifts all while making remarkable music. After both groups performed individually, they combined for a closer of Stars and Stripes Forever.
“Taking what we do in the states over to Japan was one of the most fulfilling musical experiences of my life,” said Luke Bingham ’25 MA. “Sitting side-by-side with high school musicians from Japan playing Stars and Stripes Forever was a true demonstration of the universal power of music and its ability to bring people from different cultures together.”
The final concert of the trip came in Hamamatsu at the Japan Band Clinic, which is Asia’s largest conference for band directors. Sightseeing brought on the Nakatajima Sand Dunes, where students dipped their toes in the Pacific Ocean and visited the Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments. Upon returning to Tokyo, the students gathered for a traditional tea ceremony where each section rose and shared personal reflections on their time in Japan from sharing the stage with new friends to exploring unfamiliar places.
For flutist Katie Sharp, the trip gave her a chance to collaborate with musicians she otherwise never would have met. “I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to perform alongside the talented musicians from Osaka Gyosei High School. I was incredibly impressed because every motion was so unified, their performance was as visually stunning as it was musically; and it was so special getting to know them in rehearsal and sharing a bit about our own musical journeys.”
Reflecting on the two-week tour of Japan, Mikkelson says the trip’s true value lay in how it exposed students to new experiences and broadened their understanding of the world and themselves. Over the course of two weeks he watched them grow, discover fresh inspiration for their music, forge international connections and gain a sense of humility. “It is my fervent desire that this can happen more frequently in the future, providing our musicians the opportunity to perform on international stages and to regularly interact with cultures beyond our borders.”
Photos: Konner Barr