About

Known credits:
62
Birthday:
1938-07-09
Place of birth:
Seattle, Washington, USA
Website:
N/A

Paul Chihara

Overview

Paul Seiko Chihara (born July 9, 1938) is an American composer. Chihara was born in Seattle, Washington in 1938. A Japanese American, 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. As of 2015, Chihara is on the faculty of New York University as an Artist Faculty in Film 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.

Chihara's notable students include James Horner, Sean Friar, Joseph Trapanese, and Cynthia Tse Kimberlin.

Description above from the Wikipedia page Paul Chihara, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known for

Sound

2022 Jasmine Sound Music Producer N/A
N/A
2004 Strip Search Sound Original Music Composer 59
Average
1992 Quicksand: No Escape Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1990 A Little Piece of Sunshine Sound Original Music Composer 59
Average
1990 Family of Spies Sound Original Music Composer 68
Fair
1990 Rock Hudson Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1989 Penn & Teller Get Killed Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1989 Dark Holiday Sound Original Music Composer N/A
N/A
1989 Bridesmaids Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1988 Killer Instinct Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1988 Shooter Sound Original Music Composer 59
Average
1988 Crossing Delancey Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1987 The King of Love Sound Music N/A
N/A
1987 The Killing Time Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1987 Haunted by Her Past Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1987 A Walk on the Moon Sound Music 58
Average
1986 The Morning After Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1986 Forever, Lulu Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1986 When the Bough Breaks Sound Original Music Composer 59
Average
1986 Jackals Sound Music 58
Average
1986 We're Puttin' on the Ritz Sound Original Music Composer N/A
N/A
1986 Roanoak Sound Music N/A
N/A
1986 Resting Place Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1986 A Case of Deadly Force Sound Original Music Composer N/A
N/A
1986 The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1985 Picking Up the Pieces Sound Original Music Composer 59
Average
1985 Toughlove Sound Music 59
Average
1985 Right to Kill? Sound Original Music Composer 59
Average
1985 A Bunny's Tale Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1985 The Bad Seed Sound Original Music Composer 59
Average
1985 Noon Wine Sound Original Music Composer N/A
N/A
1984 Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story Sound Music 59
Average
1984 With Intent to Kill Sound Music N/A
N/A
1984 Impulse Sound Music 58
Average
1984 Crackers Sound Music 58
Average
1983 The Haunting Passion Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1983 The Survivors Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1983 Jane Doe Sound Original Music Composer 59
Average
1982 Miss All-American Beauty Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1982 Sophisticated Ladies Sound Music Consultant N/A
N/A
1982 The Rules of Marriage Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1982 The Ambush Murders Sound Music 59
Average
1981 Prince of the City Sound Original Music Composer 61
Fair
1980 The Promise of Love Sound Music 58
Average
1980 The Children of An Lac Sound Original Music Composer 59
Average
1980 Brave New World Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1979 Act of Violence Sound Music 59
Average
1979 Mind Over Murder Sound Original Music Composer 59
Average
1979 The Darker Side of Terror Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1978 A Fire in the Sky Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1978 Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery Sound Music 59
Average
1978 Dr. Strange Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1978 The Bad News Bears Go to Japan Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1978 Deathmoon Sound Music 58
Average
1978 Night Cries Sound Original Music Composer 58
Average
1978 The Dark Secret of Harvest Home Sound Original Music Composer 69
Fair
1978 Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Mysterium Sound Music N/A
N/A
1977 I Never Promised You a Rose Garden Sound Original Music Composer 59
Average
1976 Sweet Revenge Sound Original Music Composer 59
Average
1976 The Keegans Sound Music N/A
N/A
1975 Death Race 2000 Sound Original Music Composer 59
Average

Crew

2005 Romance & Cigarettes Crew Additional Music 59
Average