
About
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 |
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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 |
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2005 | Romance & Cigarettes | Crew | Additional Music | 59 Average |