Byron Au Yong (歐陽良仁) combines western classical music, Chinese folk elements and American musical theatre with a penchant for the avant-garde. His interdisciplinary projects, scored for voices with Asian, European and handmade instruments have been performed in concert halls, festivals, theaters, museums and site-specific locations.

Works include Stuck Elevator, premiered at the American Conservatory Theatre, Tzu Lho: Simmering Songs performed by the Stanford Chorale, Surrender: A T’ai Qi Cantata, for 24 moving voices commissioned by The Esoterics, YIJU: Songs of Dislocation developed at the Jack Straw New Media Gallery and Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas performed in 64 waterways throughout the Pacific Northwest.

International projects include Salt Lips Touching premiered outside a Confucian Temple at the Jeonju Sanjo Festival in South Korea, Edge performed at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg in Germany and Forbidden Circles performed at the Fukuoka Gendai Hogaku Festival and International House of Japan.

Au Yong has worked with the top taiko ensembles in North America including On Ensemble, Portland Taiko and TAIKOPROJECT. In addition, he curated the exhibition A Bridge Home: Music in the Lives of Asian Pacific Americans for the Wing Luke Museum, where he serves on a Community Advisory Committee.

Honors include an American Composers Forum Grant, Creative Capital Award, Ford Foundation Fellowship, 4Culture Award for Innovation, Meet the Composer Commission and Time Warner Foundation Fellowship. Internationally, Au Yong has received support from Aldeburgh Music in the UK, the Dragon Foundation in Hong Kong, the Darmstadt Institute in Germany, and Foundation Gaudeamus in Holland.

Recordings of Au Yong's music are available on New World Records, Periplum and Present Sounds Recordings. His namesake comes from Lord Byron and Ouyang Xiu (歐陽脩), two poets who wrote about love.