Wataru Hokoyama B. August 24th, 1974. Aizu, Japan Moved to the States alone to study music at the age of 16, Wataru, an alumni of Interlochen Arts Academy, studied classical music composition, conducting and film scoring at The Cleveland Institute of Music and University of Southern California (Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program) with some of the well established composers such as Elmer Bernstein, Christopher Young, Donald Erb and Alan Gilbert (current music director of New York Philharmonic) respectively.
Several films Wataru has worked on as composer, were awarded in significant film festivals. The awards include Palm d’Or (Best Short Picture) at The Cannes Film Festival, 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, Wataru actively writes concert music. His concert works have been commissioned and been performed at various occasions in the United States, Japan and Europe. He has been commissioned by The U.S. Airforce 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.” Wataru worked with artists as arranger such as Clay Aiken for his U.S. tour, and Jared Leto (30 Seconds To Mars) for their album “Beautiful Lie” recording.
In 2007, Wataru began working in the video game industry by writing scores for SONY Playstation3 game”AFRIKA” 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 another 100+ piece orchestra.
In 2008, Wataru won Best Original Score with his “AFRIKA” score at Hollywood Music Awards. In 2009, Wataru received a nomination as Best Original Score for Video Game at International Film Music Critics Association Awards. Wataru was also presented Rookie of the Year Award along with the 2 wins (Music of the Year and Best Original Instrumental) at Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G) Awards at GDC ‘09.
Wataru resides in Los Angeles.