Paul Chihara

Paul Seiko Chihara was born in Seattle, Washington in 1938. He received his doctorate degree (D.M.A.) from Cornell University in 1965 as a student of Robert Palmer. Mr. Chihara also studied with the renowned pedagogue Nadia Boulanger in Paris, Ernst Pepping in Berlin, and Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony. With Toru Takemitsu, he was composer-in-residence at the Marlboro Music Festival in 1971. Chihara is currently on the faculty of U.C.L.A. and was the first composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Neville Marriner, Conductor. Mr. Chihara's prize-winning concert works have been performed in most major cities and arts centers in the U.S. and Europe. His numerous commissions and awards include those from The Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Fulbright Fellowship, the Aaron Copland Fund, and National Endowment of the Arts, as well as from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Los A