Today on ST, we chat with Paul Chihara (born 1938 in Seattle), a film and TV composer who's been active in Hollywood since the 1970s. Interestingly, Chihara is also a well-respected and prolific composer of classical music --- from avant-garde works to mainstream, highly melodic pieces; from symphonies and concertos to chamber music, choral compositions, and ballets --- and he's still, today, writing music for noted orchestras throughout the country. He will give a free-to-the-public lecture tonight (Monday the 2nd) at 7pm in the Meinig Recital Hall of the Lorton Performance Center on the TU campus. A highly accomplished musician who's composed within a wide rage of musical, professional, and dramatic settings --- and an engaging if not charming individual to boot --- Chihara studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, with Ernest Pepping in Berlin, and with Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood. He's currently on the music faculty at UCLA, and his Hollywood credits include everything from the films "Death Race 2000," "Rumblefish," and "The Morning After" to the TV shows "China Beach," "MacGruder," and "Simon and Simon." For more information about his lecture at TU this evening, please visit this link.
A Conversation with the Veteran Film and Television Composer Paul Chihara
