Wataru Hokoyama

Wataru Hokoyama was born in 1974 in Aizu, Japan. At the age of 16, he moved to the States alone to study music. An alumni of Interlochen Arts Academy, he holds a bachelor of fine arts degree from The Cleveland Institute of Music, and an advance certificate from the University of Southern California (Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program), where he studied composition with Donald Erb, Elmer Bernstein, Christopher Young and Buddy Baker respectively. Wataru also studied conducting with Alan Gilbert, the current music director of New York Philharmonic.

Several films Hokoyama has worked on as composer, were awarded in significant film festivals such as Palm d'Or (Best Short Picture) at The Cannes Film Festival, Online Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival and Best Short Drama at The Emmy (College Television Awards). He has also worked as orchestrator for film and TV such as "Dungeons and Dragons" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer (musical episode)."

Besides film and TV, his concert works have been commissioned and been performed at various occasions in the United States, Japan and Europe including a commission by The U.S. Air force Band to premiere a new piece for the 400th Anniversary of Jamestown's settlement and the 60th anniversary of U.S. Air Force. In Japan, he was commissioned to write music for the official ceremony of The Imperial Family of Japan, "Ikuju Ceremony."

Hokoyama worked with artists such as Clay Aiken for his U.S. tour, and Jared Leto (30 Seconds To Mars) for a new album recording. In 2007, he began working in the video game industry by writing scores for SONY Playstation3 game"AFRIKA" (Hollywood Music Awards' Best Video Game Score 2008) using a 104-piece orchestra to record at the SONY Scoring Stage. In 2008, he worked on CAPCOM's hit series game "Resident Evil 5" for the additional music, orchestration and conducting to record at the 20th FOX Newman Scoring Stage with a103 piece orchestra.