Professor of Composition & Theory – University of Hawaii at Manoa

Byron has been on the music faculty at the University of Hawaii at Manoa since 1972, where he presently chairs the graduate studies in music. His field of specialization is composition of modern classical music, but he has also composed pop songs and arranged orchestral accompaniment for guest artists of the Honolulu Symphony pop concerts. He was also co‑founder and artistic director of the University's Hawaii Guitar Festival for 10 years. His degrees include B. Ed (secondary music), University of Hawaii, 1965; M.M. (composition), Northwestern University, 1967; and D.M.A. (composition), Northwestern, 1972. He remains active as a freelance jazz double bassist, double bassist (part time) with the Honolulu Symphony, and a classical guitar duo partner with Brazilian virtuoso Carlos Barboso-Lima.

Since 1985, he has annually received ASCAP standard awards in serious music composition and has had two orchestral works premiered at Carnegie Hall. His works have been performed at Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI) national and regional conferences, three Ernest Bloch Composers Symposiums in Newport, Oregon, the 1994 International Trumpet Guild national conference, the Crane Festival of New Music in Potsdam, New York, the Focus! Music of the Pacific Rim festival at Lincoln Center, and the Bakersfield (Cal.) Symphony's New Directions Concert. He served as region VII co‑chair of the Society of Composers, Inc. and is currently serving a second five-year term on the Honolulu Mayor's Commission of Culture and the Arts.

In June 1996, an interview that centered on him and his music was presented on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. He was named one of the 500 most influential Asian Americans in the U.S (in the field of education) in the 1996 edition of Avenue Asia. In October 1996, he was featured as moderator and performer (on the double bass and the classical guitar) on a Hawaii Public Television "Spectrum" series on guitarists Charlie Byrd and Carlos Barboso-Lima.

Ukulele master Byron Yasui is the artistic director of the Hawaii Guitar Festival and also performs as a bassist and classical guitarist. Byron performs as a double bassist with the Honolulu Symphony and has performed with such jazz artists as Freddie Hubbard, Billy Eckstine, Anita O’Day, Charlie Byrd, Mel Torme, and many others. His original compositions have been performed nationally and have been the subject of a National Public Radio feature. Yet he started on a hand-me-down instrument: “My brother came back from the Marines with an old, beat-up Martin ukulele and I’d watch him play, and when he put it down, I’d try and play what he had played. Soon, the uke passed on to me.” Yasui worked out the basics by playing along to the music he heard on the radio, “relying on my ears to find the right chords.” “Then I heard Lyle Ritz’s first album, ‘How About Uke?’ and this turned my whole life around. He showed us all that jazz in the modern style and jazz standard tunes can be played on the ukulele.”

Standing: Lyle Ritz, Benny Chong, & Byron Seated: Bill Tapia	John King, Byron, James Hill, & Chris Kamaka
Byron loves to play golf and tennis and has been an active member of the Class of 1958, as shown in this photo. Byron shown seated – first player, front row.