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.[3] As of 2015[update], Chihara is on the faculty of New York University as an Artist Faculty in Film Music.[4]
Musicedit
Chihara's prize-winning[5] concert works, which include symphonies, concertos, chamber music, choral compositions, and ballets, have been performed to great acclaim both nationally and internationally.[citation needed] 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.[6]
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 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.[7]
Ave Maria/Scarborough Fair" (double chorus and solo oboe) (2015) - Commissioned by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Grant Gershon, Music Director
Referencesedit
^Lacoste, Steven Paul Chihara (b. 1938)[permanent dead link] Database of Recorded American Music
^Hughes, Allen (February 21, 1970). "PAUL CHIHARA GIVES PIECES FROM 'TREES'". The New York Times. p. 21. Archived from the original on 19 February 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
^Timberg, Scott (July 21, 2014). "It's not just David Byrne and Radiohead: Spotify, Pandora and how streaming music kills jazz and classical". Salon. Archived from the original on 2014-07-20. Retrieved 19 February 2019. "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."
^New York University Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions - Film Scoring Faculty: Paul Chihara: http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/scoring/people/faculty/chihara
^Boston, UMass. "Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund - UMass Boston". www.umb.edu. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
^"This Month in Theatre History". American Theatre. 2015-11-02. Archived from the original on 2015-11-04. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
^Fleshler, David (Dec 18, 2017). "New World chamber program mixes attractive Classical-era music with dispensable 1960s works". South Florida Classical Review. Archived from the original on 2019-01-18. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
^Woolfe, Zachary (20 Mar 2012). "A Lot of Trouble for Trouble in Tahiti, and It Was Worth It: The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Works Wonders With Bernstein's Opera". The New York Observer. Observer.com. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
^Bernstein and Chihara. "Trouble in Tahiti (Suite)". Boosey & Hawkes. boosey.com. Retrieved 17 May 2012.