Toru Momii

Assistant Professor of Music
Theory
tmomii@fas.harvard.edu
Music Building
307N

Toru Momii (he/him) is Assistant Professor of Music at Harvard University. His research explores topics of musical interculturality, racial and colonial politics of U.S./Canadian music theory, performance analysis, gagaku, and popular music of Japan and the Japanese diaspora. His article “A Transformational Approach to Gesture in Shō Performance” (2020) was awarded the 2021 Outstanding Publication Award from the Society for Music Theory. His research has been recognized by the SMT-40 Dissertation Fellowship from the Society for Music Theory and the Junior Fellowship in Japan Studies from the Weatherhead East Asian Institute. His writing appears in Music Theory Online and Circuit.

Toru is a co-founder of the Engaged Music Theory Working Group, which develops resources on the intersections between music theory and issues of cultural politics. He also serves as a faculty affiliate of Project Spectrum, a coalition of graduate students of color committed to addressing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in music academia. 

Toru holds a Ph.D. in music theory from Columbia University (2021), an M.A. in music theory from McGill University, and a B.A. in music and economics from Vassar College (Phi Beta Kappa). Before joining the Department of Music at Harvard, Toru has taught music theory and aural skills at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and Columbia University. Prior to pursuing academic research, he worked in the investment banking industry in Tokyo, Japan.