{{Short description|American composer (born 1938)|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{BLP sources|date=May 2012}} {{Infobox musical artist |name=Paul Chihara |background = non_performing_personnel |birth_name=Paul Seiko Chihara |birth_date={{birth date and age|1938|7|9}} |birth_place=Seattle, Washington, U.S. |death_date= |death_place= |genre=Film score |occupation=Composer |website=http://www.paulchihara.com/ }}
'''Paul Seiko Chihara''' (born July 9, 1938) is an American composer.<ref>Lacoste, Steven [http://dram.nyu.edu/dram/note.cgi?id=7237 Paul Chihara (b. 1938)]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Database of Recorded American Music</ref>
==Life and career== Chihara was born in Seattle, Washington in 1938. A Japanese American,<ref name="nyt-1970-hughes">{{cite news |last1=Hughes |first1=Allen |title=PAUL CHIHARA GIVES PIECES FROM 'TREES' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/02/21/archives/paul-chihara-gives-pieces-from-trees.html |access-date=19 February 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=February 21, 1970 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219075842/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/02/21/archives/paul-chihara-gives-pieces-from-trees.html |archive-date=19 February 2019 |url-status=live |page=21}}</ref> he spent three years of his childhood with his family in an internment camp in Minidoka, Idaho due to Executive Order 9066.
Chihara received a BA and an MA in English literature from the University of Washington and Cornell University, respectively. He received a DMA in 1965 from Cornell, studying with Robert Palmer. He also studied composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, Ernst Pepping in West Berlin, and Gunther Schuller in Tanglewood.
He was the first composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Neville Marriner, and was most recently part of the music faculty of UCLA, where he was the head of the Visual Media Program.<ref name="chihara-salon">{{cite web |last1=Timberg |first1=Scott |title=It's not just David Byrne and Radiohead: Spotify, Pandora and how streaming music kills jazz and classical |url=https://www.salon.com/2014/07/20/its_not_just_david_byrne_and_radiohead_spotify_pandora_and_how_streaming_music_kills_jazz_and_classical/ |work=Salon |access-date=19 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140720215403/https://www.salon.com/2014/07/20/its_not_just_david_byrne_and_radiohead_spotify_pandora_and_how_streaming_music_kills_jazz_and_classical/ |archive-date=2014-07-20 |date=July 21, 2014 |quote=“All of my colleagues — composers and arrangers — are seeing huge cuts in their earnings,” says Paul Chihara, a veteran composer who until recently headed UCLA’s film-music program. “In effect, we’re not getting royalties. It’s almost amusing some of the royalty checks I get.” One of the last checks he got was for $29. “And it bounced.”}}</ref> {{as of|2015}}, Chihara is on the faculty of New York University as an Artist Faculty in Film Music.<ref>New York University Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions - Film Scoring Faculty: Paul Chihara: http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/scoring/people/faculty/chihara {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208060602/http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/scoring/people/faculty/chihara |date=2015-12-08 }}</ref>
==Music== {{BLP sources section|date=August 2021}} Chihara's prize-winning<ref>{{Cite web |last=Boston |first=UMass |title=Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund - UMass Boston |url=https://www.umb.edu/liberal-arts/academic-departments/performarts/lili-boulanger/ |access-date=2023-09-08 |website=www.umb.edu |language=en}}</ref> concert works, which include symphonies, concertos, chamber music, choral compositions, and ballets, have been performed to great acclaim both nationally and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Paul Chihara |url=https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/composer/262/Paul-Chihara/ |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=www.wisemusicclassical.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Recording and premiere performances of Paul Chihara's piano concerto, and complete works for piano |url=https://www.nyfa.org/fiscal-sponsorship/project-directory/view-project/?id=QN1636 |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=www.nyfa.org |language=en-US}}</ref> His works are concerned with the evolution and expression of highly contrasting colors, textures, and emotional levels, which are often dramatically juxtaposed with one another.<ref name="choral-music">{{cite book |last1=Strimple |first1=Nick |title=Choral Music in the Twentieth Century |date=2002 |publisher=Amadeus Press |location=Portland, Oregon |isbn=9781574670745 |lccn=2002066536 |oclc=471768674 |page=[https://archive.org/details/choralmusicintwe0000stri/page/247 247] |url=https://archive.org/details/choralmusicintwe0000stri/page/247 }}</ref>
His works have been commissioned by the Guggenheim Foundation, the Roger Wagner Chorale, the Naumberg Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has also received commissions from the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony, as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra. He was Composer-in-Residence with the San Francisco Ballet for ten years. ''Tempest'' and ''Shinju'' are among his well-known ballet scores.
His music reflects interest in a variety of musical styles, and often shows influence from Asian music and culture. He sometimes incorporates quotations and stylistic borrowings from jazz standards, folk songs, and the classical repertoire. He has composed music in a variety of forms, including ballets, musicals, symphonies, choral and chamber music.
His close connection with music for dramatic forms extends into film and television, for which he has written nearly 100 scores. His first film score was for Roger Corman's ''Death Race 2000'' (1975), and came at a point that he decided to leave academia to pursue a living as a composer. His exit from the university environment, and into film music also produced a change in his concert music. It was at this point that he moved away from the 12-tone and freely chromatic styles he had employed up to then, and embraced a more tonal style.
He has worked with directors Sidney Lumet, Louis Malle, Michael Ritchie, and Arthur Penn. His film credits include ''Sweet Revenge'' (1976), ''I Never Promised You a Rose Garden'' (1977), ''The Bad News Bears Go to Japan'' (1978), ''A Fire in the Sky'' (1978), ''Prince of the City'' (1981), ''The Legend of Walks Far Woman'' (1982), ''The Survivors'' (1983), ''Crackers'' (1984), ''Impulse'' (1984), ''The Morning After'' (1986), ''Forever, Lulu'' (1987), ''The Killing Time'' (1987), ''Crossing Delancey'' (1988), and ''Penn & Teller Get Killed'' (1989). His television credits include ''The Dark Secret of Harvest Home'', ''Dr. Strange'', ''Brave New World'', ''Noble House'', ''Frederick Forsyth Presents'' (1989), and the pilot and theme music to ''Manimal'', among others.
He also composed the score for ''Shōgun: The Musical'', based on James Clavell's novel. ''Shōgun'' had a short run on Broadway, from November 1990 to January 1991.<ref name="am-the">{{cite web |title=This Month in Theatre History |url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2015/11/02/this-month-in-theatre-history-13/ |publisher=American Theatre |access-date=19 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151104215006/https://www.americantheatre.org/2015/11/02/this-month-in-theatre-history-13/ |archive-date=2015-11-04 |url-status=live |date=2015-11-02}}</ref>
Chihara's notable students include James Horner, Sean Friar, Joseph Trapanese, and Cynthia Tse Kimberlin.
==Selected works==
{{Div col}} *Concerto for viola and orchestra (1963) *''Magnificat'' (1965) *''Logs'' (double bass) (1966) *''Driftwood'' (string quartet) (1967) *''Branches'' (2 bassoons & percussion) (1968) *''Redwood'' for viola and percussion (1968) *''Prelude and Motet (Veni Domine)'' (organ) (1968) *''Willow Willow'' (flute, tuba & percussion) (1968)<ref name="sfcr-1">{{cite web |last1=Fleshler |first1=David |title=New World chamber program mixes attractive Classical-era music with dispensable 1960s works |url=http://southfloridaclassicalreview.com/2017/12/new-world-chamber-program-mixes-attractive-classical-era-music-with-dispensable-1960s-works/ |website=South Florida Classical Review |access-date=19 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190118194730/http://southfloridaclassicalreview.com/2017/12/new-world-chamber-program-mixes-attractive-classical-era-music-with-dispensable-1960s-works/ |archive-date=2019-01-18 |url-status=live |date=Dec 18, 2017}}</ref> *''Forest Music'' (orchestra) (1970) *''Windsong'' (cello & orchestra) (1971) *''Ave Maria - Scarborough Fair'' (6 male voices) (1971) *''Ceremony I'' (oboe, 2 celli, double bass & percussion) (1972) *''Grass'' (double bass & orchestra) (1972) *''Ceremony III'' (flute & orchestra) (1973) *''Ceremony IV'' (orchestra) (1973) *''Ceremony II'' (amplified flute, 2 amplified celli & percussion) (1974) *''Elegy'' (piano trio) (1974) *''Piano Trio'' (1974) *''Guitar Concerto'' (1975) *''Symphony no.1 "Symphony in Celebration"'' (''Ceremony V'') (1975) *''Shinju'' (Lovers’ Suicide) (ballet after Chikamatsu) (1975) *''Missa Carminum'' (8 voices) (1975) *''The Beauty of the Rose is in its Passing'' (bassoon, 2 horns, harp, & percussion) (1976) *''String Quartet'' (''Primavera'') (1977) *''Mistletoe Bride'' (1978) *''The Infernal Machine'' revised as ''Oedipus Rag'' (musical after Jean Cocteau) (1978–80) *''The Tempest'' (ballet, after Shakespeare) (1980) *''Concerto for String Quartet & Orchestra'' (''"Kisses Sweeter than Wine"'') (1980) *''Sinfonia concertante'' (9 instruments) (1980) *''Saxophone Concerto'' (1981) *''Symphony no.2'' "Birds of Sorrow" (1981) *''Sequoia'' (string quartet & tape) (1984) *''Noble House'' (1988) *''Clarinet Trio'' (''Shogun Trio'') (1989) *''Duo Concertante'' for violin and viola (1989) *''Shogun: The Musical'' (1990) *Sonata ''"De Profundis"'' for viola and piano (1994, 2009) *''Forever Escher'' (saxophone quartet & string quartet) (1995) *''Minidoka (Reminiscences of ...)'' (ensemble & tape) (1996) *''Minidoka'' (chorus, percussion & tape) (1998) *''Double Concerto for Violin, Clarinet & Orchestra'' (1999) *''Clouds'' (orchestra) (2001) *''Songs of Love and Loss'' for solo viola and choir (2001) *''Amatsu Kaze'' (soprano and five instruments) (2002) *''An Afternoon on the Perfume River'' (chamber orchestra) (2004) *''Trio Nostalgico'' (2004) *''Magnificat: Hannah's Prayer'' (2007) *''Fantasy'' (violin/flute, cello & piano) (2008) *''Ami'' (piano, 4 hands) (2008) *''When Soft Voices Die'' (viola & orchestra) (2008) *''Images'' (clarinet, viola & piano) (2009) *''Second Piano Quintet, "Aka Tombo (Dragonfly)"'' (2009) *''Trouble in Tahiti (Suite)'' (2012), adaptation of ''Trouble in Tahiti'', opera by Leonard Bernstein<ref name=Woolfe>{{cite web|last=Woolfe|first=Zachary|title=A Lot of Trouble for Trouble in Tahiti, and It Was Worth It: The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Works Wonders With Bernstein's Opera|url=http://observer.com/2012/03/20/a-lot-of-trouble-for-trouble-in-tahiti-and-it-was-worth-it-the-orpheus-chamber-orchestra-works-wonders-with-bernsteins-opera/?show=all|work=The New York Observer|publisher=Observer.com|access-date=17 May 2012|date=20 Mar 2012}}</ref><ref name=Tahiti>{{cite web|last=Bernstein and Chihara|title=Trouble in Tahiti (Suite)|url=http://www.boosey.com/cr/music/Leonard-Bernstein-Trouble-in-Tahiti-Suite/58359|work=Boosey & Hawkes|publisher=boosey.com|access-date=17 May 2012}}</ref> *''Ave Maria/Scarborough Fair'' (double chorus and solo oboe) (2015) - Commissioned by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Grant Gershon, Music Director
{{Div col end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == *{{IMDb name|id=0002414|name=Paul Chihara}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060507201506/http://www.americancomposers.org/hollywood_chihara_interview.htm Interview with Paul Chihara] at [https://web.archive.org/web/20060507201506/http://www.americancomposers.org/index.html American Composers Orchestra] *[http://www.bruceduffie.com/chihara.html Interview with Paul Chihara], July 6, 2004
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chihara, Paul}} Category:1938 births Category:21st-century American composers Category:American classical composers Category:American classical musicians of Japanese descent Category:American male classical composers Category:Classical musicians from Washington (state) Category:Cornell University alumni Category:Japanese-American internees Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Seattle Category:Varèse Sarabande Records artists Category:21st-century American male composers