About Dana Leong
Dana Leong is a two-time Grammy-winning performer, composer and technologist. A globally renowned electric cellist and trombonist he channels ancient elegance into futuristic soundscapes. Leong has served multiple tours as a United States Cultural Ambassador of Music and is the artist reshaping music’s role in wellness, innovation and global connection.
Leong redefines what it means to be a 21st-century artist.
Renowned as one of the world’s leading electric cellists, and celebrated by world class artists as a top trombonist, his work bridges the worlds of jazz, classical, hip-hop, electronic dance and meditative healing music. His performances are unforgettable immersive journeys that combine art and science, emotion and data, soul and circuitry.
Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area by his mother, acclaimed pianist Sumiko Nagasawa, Dana began performing at a young age and became a Stanford University jazz instructor at 16, the youngest in the program’s history. His musical curiosity led him to the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he completed public-policy studies that now inform his approach to cultural diplomacy and social innovation.
As the founder of TEKTONIKmusic.org, he uses sound and neuroscience to help communities heal from trauma. TEKTONIK continues to collaborate with artists across more than a dozen countries and has been featured at the United Nations, TEDxShanghai, and the World Economic Forum, where he was named a Young Global Leader. Dana has composed for global brands such as Hermès, Virgin Galactic and Porsche, and performed alongside icons including Kanye West, DJ Qbert and 16 Time Grammy Winner Paquito D’Rivera.
With his pioneering project TEKTONIK NEUROsymphony, he merges live performance with AI and real-time brain-wave data to create music that evolves with human emotion. As the host of #UpgradeMe with Dana Leong, he explores dialogues with world leaders of industry ranging from inner journeys, to motivational stories that reveal how creativity, comedy, resilience and purpose shape extraordinary lives.
From Davos to Tokyo, Dana Leong embodies the evolution of sound and spirit, a modern polymath whose work transforms not only what we hear, but how we feel.
Follow Dana @danaleongmusic
Selected Projects and Milestones
Two-time Grammy Award-winning cellist, composer and keynote performer Dana Leong has created work for the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Hermès, Virgin Galactic, Mercedes-Benz, Prada and NIKE across more than thirty countries. Selected works, commissions, keynotes and premieres, most recent first.
2026
●“AEON,” TEKTONIK Music featuring Dana Leong, global release
●World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders Summit, Dubai
2025
●Musical keynote alongside Yao Ming’s keynote, Yao Foundation, Hangzhou
●Musical keynote, AmCham Shanghai 110th Anniversary Gala, “America the Beautiful,” Shanghai
●#UpgradeMe podcast special filming, Singapore Grand Prix, Formula 1, Singapore
●#UpgradeMe podcast special filming, World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders Summit, Geneva
2024
●NeuroSymphony keynote, EO Global Leadership Conference, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
●NeuroSymphony keynote driven live by the audience’s brainwaves, International Digital Economy Conference Sarawak, Kuching
●“TEKTONIK Music, Sweet Sleep Meditations,” recorded with Cookie Marenco (DSD pioneer, Blue Coast Music, Skywalker Sound engineer), Stanford neuroscience researchers and EMOTIV, entered on the 2026 Grammy short list for Best Spiritual Album
●EMOTIV study of “Sweet Sleep Meditations” measures a drop in anxiety-related brainwave activity, with 99.9% statistical confidence
●Shanghai Taikoo Lujiazui gala performer, Shanghai
●“TEKTONIK Music, Bring Back the Light,” live album release
●Dana Leong’s Beethoven Re-Imagined wins Silver, Effie Awards Greater China
2023
●Musical keynote, SuperBridge, Museum of the Future, Dubai
●Grace Cathedral sound bath, one of the largest ever staged, San Francisco
●Beethoven Re-Imagined by Dana Leong, Beethoven’s Pastoral performed on vegetable instruments, Asahi Farms, Shandong
●Standard Chartered Private Bank, “Spirit of Exploration,” an AI symphony and a live NeuroSymphony performed from guests’ own brain activity
●TEKTONIK NeuroSymphony, live filming, Wang Xiao Hui Museum, China
●Musical keynotes with Arianna Huffington and Chelsea Clinton at HLTH, Las Vegas
●World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders Summit, Dubai
●Dana Leong and TEKTONIK NeuroSymphony, Tatler Asia feature interview
2022
●“TEKTONIK Music, GAIA,” formed across two years in the mountains of Nagano, with Keali’i Reichel, Yumi Kurosawa and guest artists from more than ten countries
2021
●“iDragon (Human + AI Collaboration)” by Dana Leong, featured by Dell Technologies “Spirit of Innovation”
●Montblanc featured campaign
●TEKTONIK 10th anniversary, “10 Years of Global Healing Music”
2020
●“Dana Leong, iDragon (Human + AI Collaboration),” the first human and AI co-composed electronic symphony, commissioned by DeepMusic.ai, founded by robotics pioneer Carol Reiley and Grammy winner Hilary Hahn
●Featured performer, 50th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Davos
●“TEKTONIK Music, Healing Waves,” album global release
●TEKTONIK Music partners to create #HarmonyHeals, streamed into more than twenty recovery hospitals in Wuhan and the greater Asia Pacific
●NIKE “+1” finale, Dynamic Meditation, Shanghai Stadium
2019
●World premiere of “AEON” opening the Shanghai International Auto Show, Mercedes-Benz Arena, Shanghai
●“TEKTONIK Music, INTO THE LIGHT,” recorded with head priest Naohiko Takeuchi at Nyakuichioji Shrine, Omachi, Japan, the first foreigner invited to perform there in 800 years
●Global Teacher Prize ceremony, “Dream State,” co-billed with Hugh Jackman and Rita Ora, Varkey Foundation, Dubai
●Aurora Prize closing performance, following the Prime Minister of Armenia, Yerevan
●Featured performer, Hong Kong FinTech Week, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
●Featured performer, Singapore FinTech Festival, Singapore EXPO
●Runway music composer, Prada Spring/Summer 2020 menswear show, Shanghai
●Adjunct faculty and the C.A.R.E. curriculum, Fudan University Fanhai International School of Finance, Shanghai
●TEKTONIK Master’s Scholarship in Social Entrepreneurship, Asian Institute of Management, Manila
2018
●Grand opening of Tai Kwun, original score and projection-mapping installation across 31 nights, created with the Chief Executive’s team for the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s restoration of the Central Police Station compound, Hong Kong
●Featured performer, 48th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Davos
●Keynote, TEDxZizhuPark, “To create a better world by music,” Shanghai
●Keynote, Future Generation Forum 2050 with Alibaba, Hangzhou
●Anthems of Life silent concert, sold out, Yongfoo Elite, Shanghai
●Naked Castle inaugural amphitheatre concert, Moganshan
2017
●TEKTONIK Music named a top ten social entrepreneurship, UBS Global Visionaries, honoured at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, co-hosting Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands
●IPCN Shanghai Fashion Weekend, TEKTONIK Eco-Chill Out Zone, more than 50,000 guests across three days, Shanghai Exhibition Center
●Composer and performer, Infiniti QX50 Concept global launch, Shanghai International Auto Show
●AMTD-LendIt Global Fintech Investment Summit, opening performance, Hong Kong
●“Music In Town” festival headliner, more than 10,000 audience, New Town Plaza, Hong Kong
●TEDxCaohejing, “How Music and Art Is Changing the World,” Shanghai
●“CODING THE WORLD,” TEKTONIK Electronic Symphony, 3D Printing Museum, Shanghai
●Musical keynote, Asian Institute of Management 50th Anniversary, Manila
●Musical keynote, Harvard Club of Shanghai Annual General Meeting, Shanghai
2016
●“Isobel” film commissioned by the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit, contrasting places worth preserving with regions under environmental strain, United Nations Headquarters, New York
●Live aerial filming above the Bund for the “Isobel” film, Shanghai
●Musical keynote, inaugural Alibaba XIN Philanthropy Conference, programmed with Jack Ma, Jet Li, Yao Ming and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Hangzhou, 100 million online live viewers
●South China Morning Post, front-page Lifestyle feature
●Shanghai Arts Festival with visual artist Android Jones, more than 10,000 audience, Shanghai
●Keynote artist in residence, TEDxShanghai
●Music meditation at YouTube Studio for the World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders Summit, Tokyo, with thirty global leaders of industry, policy, culture and technology
●TEKTONIK Music, Raga and the Moving Image, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn
●TEKTONIK Music DJ set, Red Sky Festival, Harquail Theatre, Cayman Islands
2015
●Musical highlight immediately preceding President Bill Clinton’s address, Varkey Foundation, UN Week, New York
●“Special Performance: Illumination,” World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions, with koto, sumi-e and projection mapping, set including “Golden Dream,” Dalian
●Named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader
●World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders Summit, Geneva
●Save the Children gala, raising millions for Nepal earthquake relief, Hong Kong
●JAZZOPEN Stuttgart, featured headline performance with CRO and Christian Scott
●TEKTONIK Music, Rubin Museum of Art, New York
●Winter Jazzfest, New York
2014
●Closing ceremony, World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions, with DJ Qbert, the first hip-hop performance on that stage and the first standing ovation in the forum’s history, Tianjin
●Yamaha Young Performing Artists, featured performer and speaker
●Guest teaching artist, Mark O’Connor and Berklee College of Music Summer String Program
●Dana Leong Trio, McCallum Theatre, Palm Desert
2013
●Hermès, score “Fire” for the grand opening of the Beverly Hills store, Los Angeles
●Paquito D’Rivera’s “Charlie Parker with Strings,” 25th anniversary of Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York
●Miguel Zenón’s “Rayuela,” eighteen-date European and United States tour
●Dance Theatre of Harlem, Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York
●Dana Leong Trio, Vladivostok International Jazz Festival, Philharmonic Hall, Russia
●Letter of recognition from the Consulate General of the United States
2012
●Suspended on the façade of Los Angeles City Hall for the opening of Grand Park, the only performer ever to play on the building, with aerial dancers, Los Angeles
●Suspended from the Old Post Office tower beside the White House, Pennsylvania Avenue closed for the night, presented by the Kennedy Center, Washington DC
●“Dream State,” including “Galactic,” commissioned by Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic for the inaugural space launch, New Mexico
●“The Sound of Folk Tales” world premiere, New Vision Arts Festival, Sha Tin Town Hall, Hong Kong
●AsiaStage featuring Dana Leong, Asia Society Hong Kong Center
●Dana Leong Mexico tour, five shows, three cities, more than 15,000 people
●Russia tour with Daniel Kramer and Tessa Souter
●TEKTONIK Music, Locating the Sacred Festival, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
2011
●TEKTONIK Music founded in response to the Tōhoku earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster
●Two Grammy Awards for “Panamericana Suite” with Paquito D’Rivera, Best Latin Jazz Album and Best Classical Contemporary Composition
●Suspended on the Great Wall of Oakland, the first musician to play on the wall, with aerial dancers, California
●Bound(less), created with aerial dancers and supported by Ventura Performing Arts Center and Doris Duke
●Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium, New York
●Sleepless Night Miami, trio on the cover of the Miami Herald
●CCRMA, Stanford Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, Stanford
●“Lost and Found” benefit concerts for Japan, with Mark O’Connor, Massachusetts
●9/11 10th Anniversary Concert, The Greene Space, New York
2010
●Opening ceremony performer, US Open, New York
●Guest music director and performer, Fela! on Broadway, Eugene O’Neill Theatre, New York
●First Composer-in-Residence, Museum of Chinese in America, New York
●MILK & JADE album release, Symphony Space, New York
●Strings Magazine feature, “Music Without Borders”
●Yamaha Cello Festival, New York
●MILK & JADE by Dana Leong, Tenerife Festival, Canary Islands
2009
●“Life After Dark,” commissioned by the Apollo Theater, New York
●“Women Without Men,” score with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival
●Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hall, New York
●MILK & JADE by Dana Leong, Macao International Music Festival, double bill with DJ Spooky
●MILK & JADE by Dana Leong, Guinness Jazz Festival, Cork, Ireland
2007–2008
●United States Music Ambassador, The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad, Jazz at Lincoln Center and the US Department of State, touring Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines and Japan
●“Anthems of Life” album worldwide release, Tateo Sound
●Henry Threadgill’s Zooid, Banlieues Bleues, Paris
●National Council on the Arts, with Paquito D’Rivera, Washington DC
Foundations
●“Leaving New York,” debut album with Christian McBride and Paquito D’Rivera
●Life After Dark Studio, Harlem, with satellites in Columbus and San Francisco
●Presidential Summit for Anti-Violence, performing before five United States Presidents and General Colin Powell, at seventeen
●National GRAMMY High School All-Star Big Band, performing at the 1997 and 1998 Grammy events and on NBC’s Today Show
●Youngest instructor in the history of the Stanford Jazz Workshop, at sixteen, and still teaching there
A fuller record of concerts, festivals and tours is kept on the performance archive.