Donald Reid Womack, department chair and professor in the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of Music, has been granted Honorary Membership by the Society for American Music at its 51st annual conference held in March 2025, in Tacoma, Washington.
The Honorary Membership is among the society’s highest distinctions, reserved for individuals whose career achievements have made a lasting impact on the field of American music. Womack, an award-winning and distinguished composer, was recognized alongside fellow esteemed composer William Bolcom.
“The Society for American Music Honorary Membership is something of a lifetime achievement award, and I’m greatly honored to be recognized,” Womack said. “I’m especially happy that the intercultural work that has been such a big part of my efforts for several decades, and which is a reflection of our wonderfully diverse multi-faceted culture here in Hawaiʻi, has had a positive impact.”
Womack’s recognition highlights UH Mānoa’s role as a global hub for musical innovation and cultural exchange. Womack has been at UH since 1994, and also serves as a faculty member of the Center for Japanese Studies and the Center for Korean Studies.
In remarks delivered by Society for American Music President E. Douglas Bomberger, Womack was celebrated for his pioneering work in intercultural composition.
“Embracing the unique geographical position and cultural traditions of Hawaiʻi, Womack’s music blends elements of the Asia-Pacific region,” Bomberger said. “A Guggenheim Fellow and two-time Fulbright recipient, he has spent extensive time in East Asia learning instrumental techniques and timbres of Korean, Chinese and Japanese music. He is in the vanguard of intercultural composition, earning a reputation as one of the leading composers of contemporary music for Korean instruments. His works have been performed and broadcast in 25 countries and recorded on more than a dozen releases.”
The Department of Music is housed in UH Mānoa’s College of Arts, Languages & Letters.
