The Headlands Suite (2024) by Byron Au Yong
for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, and piano
World premiere; Earplay commission

I. Deliberate: "Then comes the hike. Again, deliberately planned."
II. Exuberant: "Even though this one didn't fit the pattern."
III. Desperate: "He was in despair."
IV. Nostalgic: Memorial Day 1991
V. Suspended: "I'll be alone now."
VI. Vivid: "Every memory of someone else's memory; it's all so vivid."
VII. Idyllic: "It's a truth I pushed down."

Inspiration:
Christopher Chen's play The Headlands is a San Francisco noir detective story that explores themes of nostalgia, loss, and truth. The music I composed for the American Conservatory Theater's 2023 production delves into similar territory. It reflects on a time from my past when, as a college dropout, I juggled multiple jobs while trying to compose. On a sunny Memorial Day in 1991, I awoke with a newfound resolve. Determined to break free from my fragmented creative fatigue, I vowed to complete a musical composition. This tradition has continued, with a new composition written on every Memorial Day since, even when circumstances required reconstructing missed years.

My subsequent dedication to fragments as a compositional strategy, however, has proven well-suited for theater, as musical snippets can serve as transitions between set changes as well as underscore character development and dramatic shifts. Since then, I've realized that music exists in a continuous stream. Sounds continually surround us waiting to be heard. With this philosophy in mind, I revisit music for the production The Headlands and Memorial Day 1991.

I'm thrilled that The Headlands Suite is part of Earplay's New Conversations concert, as the performance draws inspiration from both baroque dance suites and contemporary classical chamber music. The suite unfolds in a series of vignettes with musical fragments (sections II, V, and VII) interspersed alongside linear one-minute compositions (sections I, III, and VI). This approach, which I've developed for over 20 years through studies in music, dance, and theater, celebrates the possibilities of fixed and open musical notation as contemporary performance practices grounded in the past.

Gratitude:
My deepest thanks to Earplay musicians Mary Chun, Terrie Baune, Tod Brody, Peter Josheff, Thalia Moore, Ellen Ruth Rose, Brenda Tom, Executive Director Lori Zook, Board member Bruce Bennett, and InterMusic SF. Theater music often disappears after the final curtain call. It's a privilege to revisit and reimagine The Headlands Suite for chamber ensemble, acknowledging the blurry lines of the past as we move forward.