Upcoming Performances
January 15, 2011
7:30 pm
TCU Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Martin will play Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 with Victor Sawa and the Saskatoon Symphony in the Master Series: Russian Romance.
The Saskatoon Symphony will also play Tchaikovsky - Polonaise "Evgeny Onegin," Op. 24 and Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade, Op. 35.
Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra's Concert Series 2010-2011
February 3, 2011
Keith Albee Theatre
Huntington, West Virginia
7:30 p.m.
In Video Games Live, Martin will perform several video game music piano solos. Please see http://www.videogameslive.com for more information.
March 12, 2011
8 pm
Conexus Arts Centre, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Martin will play Liszt - Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, S. 124 with Victor Sawa and the South Saskatchewan Youth Orchestra in the Mosaic Masterworks Concert Series: Internet Connection.
The South Saskatchewan Youth Orchestra will also play Tchaikovsky - Marche Slave, Op. 31 and R. Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30.
Regina Symphony Orchestra's Mosaic Masterworks Concert Series 2010-2011
"Art can enrich the lives of ordinary people and can transcend national, religious, and ethnic barriers." - Isamu Noguchi, sculptor (17 Nov 1904 - 30 Dec 1988)
Martin performs a Super Mario Medley:
MARTIN LEUNG
Video Game Pianist
Martin Leung
is an award-winning, globally-recognized pianist and musical pioneer
for the 21st century. Trained classically, he performs standard
repertoire. Leung's alter ego, Video Game Pianist, performs the emergent music of video games, a successful
specialization that has established him early as a soloist trailblazer
in the industry.
Martin's success was initially speed-launched overnight by a popular internet video of then-seventeen-year-old Martin's blindfolded performance of the classic Super Mario Brothers theme, and a spirited Mario medley. This landmark clip debuted on top-trafficked eBaum's World on 2 July 2004, more than a year before the official launch of YouTube. Approximately 40 million people worldwide have seen the video.
At San Francisco’s
Sony Metreon on 8 March 2005, Martin made his first public appearance
interpreting the tune-stories of Super Mario, Sonic, Zelda, Earthworm
Jim, and Halo 2 as a performing art. Two days later he performed
at Moscone Center for the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) Audio
Awards. Continuing to discover new audiences for his bold “gold standard”
(East Bay Express) musical explorations, Martin is in the vanguard
of efforts to introduce video game music as a respectable component
of universal music-making. The first video-game-music
solo recital Martin performed publicly was in 2005 at the Alamo Drafthouse
Cinema in Austin, Texas—replete with 21 encores.
Martin is currently part of the world tour Video Games Live, created by Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall. He premiered his piano arrangements at the 2005 Hollywood Bowl inaugural show before 11,000 people. Since then, Martin has performed in VGL in the U.S.A., Brazil, Canada, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Singapore, and Taiwan. He has performed in VGL in venues such as historical symphonic concert halls (Kennedy Center Concert Hall in Washington D.C., Royal Festival Hall in England, Royal Concert Hall in Scotland, National Concert Hall in Ireland), historical rock concert venues, (Hammersmith Apollo, Hard Rock Live at Universal Orlando), indoor sports arenas (TSB Bank Arena, ARENA Leipzig, Singapore Indoor Stadium), convention centers (Anaheim Convention Center, Porte de Versailles), theatres (Beacon Theatre on Broadway, NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE, Fox Oakland Theatre), ampitheatres (Hollywood Bowl, Greek Theatre), and more.
Return engagements
in 2006 include Brady Games at Electronic Entertainment Exposition and
G.A.N.G. Audio Awards at the Game Developers Conference, both in California,
and Penny Arcade Exposition in Washington. Martin performed at the 4Players.de booth at the German Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany in 2007.
In recent years Martin has been featured diversely, to name some: U.S. television appearances on ABC News, CBS News, FOX News, "Game Head" on Spike TV, Brazil television appearances on Globo News, "Nada Haver" on TV Record, "Atitude.com" on TVE Brasil, and PlayTV, MTV Overdrive,
MTV Obsessed, Cleveland Plain Dealer, East Bay
Express, San Diego Union-Tribune, Austin Chronicle,
the Observer, la Prensa Newspaper, CIM Notes,
Nintendo Power (USA), Cube
(England), PS Extreme (Poland), Just-Cubed
(Germany), Gameworld (Brazil), Night Life Montreal
(Canada), Advanced Media Network, Excite (Japan), Coverville,
Game Music Radio, All Games Radio, MMORadio, WNYC 93.9 FM Soundcheck,
Z103 FM Idaho, HOT104.7 FM California, MSN video, and myriad websites.
Notably in
2006, Leung was invited to play cutting-edge programs of classical and
video game music at Shiloh Middle School’s Career Education Day, at
CIM Uncorked, and in solo recital at the historic Union Club
of Cleveland. Other highlights in 2005-06 recall the performances of
classical music at Pianofest in the Hamptons; the American Liszt Society
Festival; concerts in Ohio, such as those for the Darius Milhaud Society,
Youngstown Music Teachers’ Association, and Pianofest; and Pacific
Symphony-Chinese American League and Arts Orange County celebrations,
along with solo recitals in California.
In May 2010, Leung received his Master of Music degree at the Yale School of Music where he studied with Claude Frank. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in 2008 at the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with Paul Schenly and Daniel Shapiro. Previous teachers include Myong-joo Lee, Ory Shihor, Scott McBride Smith, and Marilyn Shields.
A 2002 Oberlin International Piano Competition prizewinner, he later
soloed at 16 at Carnegie Hall’s New York Youth Orchestra Festival
and with the Pittsburgh Symphony on From the Top. He is
the First Prize winner at the 2004 Los Angeles Philharmonic Kaper Awards
and 2004 Southern California High School Chess Championship, among other
competitions. Leung is a National Foundation for Advancement in
the Arts’ ARTS 2004 laureate in Classical Piano. His accomplishments
in classical music, video game music, and chess have been mentioned
in the Los Angeles Times since 1997.
The music on the MySpace Music Player is Martin's classical music recordings of "Saudades do Brasil, op. 67" by Darius Milhaud and "Andante Spianato, op. 22" by Frederic Chopin.
