A Japanese American,[2] he spent three years of his childhood with his family in an internment camp in Minidoka, Idaho due to Executive Order 9066.
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.
[4] 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.
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.
[9] Chihara's notable students include James Horner, Sean Friar, Joseph Trapanese, and Cynthia Tse Kimberlin.