MUSE • Musicians United for Social Equity

Biography

Paolo Cabo Wahn is a classically trained pianist and an aspiring composer currently studying composition and piano performance in the music program in the College of Letters and Science at UC Berkeley. He is also pursuing a simultaneous degree in chemistry and teaches organic chemistry as an Undergraduate Student Instructor for the College of Chemistry.

In August 2022, Wahn worked with Domenic Salerni, violinist of the Grammy award-winning Attacca Quartet, at the 2022 Del Mar International Composers Symposium. Salerni subsequently programmed Wahn’s piece, “The Sunflower Rondo,” for his concert in October 2022 at the Rites of Spring Music Festival at Quogue Wildlife Refuge in Quogue, New York.

In the summer of 2024, he was selected as one of five finalists and commissioned by San Diego New Music (SDNM) to write a brass-woodwind quartet (flute, bassoon, trumpet, trombone) for the 2024 SDNM Emerging Composers Concert.

His overall focus is to write for musical theater, but he is also interested in classical and other genres. In Fall 2025, he will enter his fourth semester as Music Director for The Intermission Orchestra at Berkeley, a student-led orchestra that specializes in anime, video game, and film/TV music. Starting as a pianist/keyboardist in Spring 2023, he has gradually taken on new roles in the orchestra, becoming a vocalist, arranger, conductor, and Music Director.