For our upcoming 75th Anniversary Gala we are proud to bestow our esteemed alumni award to Japanese-American composer Paul Chihara and Seattle Conservatory of Music founder and director emeritus Margaret Pressley!
Paul Chihara is a composer of prize-winning concert works and scores for over 90 motion pictures and television series. As composer-in-residence for the San Francisco Ballet (1973-1986) he wrote many trailblazing works, including Shin-ju, based on the “lovers’ suicide” plays by the great Japanese dramatist Chikamatsu, as well as the first full-length American ballet, The Tempest. Paul Chihara is currently a professor of Music at New York University.
The Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra will perform a suite from Chihara’s The Tempest at their May 5 concert at Benaroya Hall.
Margaret Pressley is a violinist, instructor, and founder of the Seattle Conservatory of Music which became a SYSO program in 2016. She is one of the foremost instructors of violin pedagogy in the United States and is a specialist in the training of pre-college musicians. Margaret Pressley currently resides in Colorado Springs.
