“A brilliant pianist” (The Times of London), Martin Leung Video Game Pianist makes our globe a more joyful place. He is one of the first pianists to gain worldwide recognition for playing video game music on the piano, both in concert venues and in online videos. He holds degrees in piano performance from Ohio’s CIM with academic honors, the Yale School of Music, and a Doctorate in Musical Arts from USC.
Martin is distinguished by his pivotal role in the emergence and development of video game music as a performing art, while inspiring the appreciation of classical music. He gave a webinar to the Music Teachers’ Association of California, titled, “Video Game Music Motivates Students” (2024). His Super Mario Medley piano performance video (2004, pre-YouTube) is referenced in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023). This mood-lifting and iconic video–unprecedented and provocative in 2004–is also highlighted for its historic value in YouTube’s documentary “Celebrating the Mario Community + 100 BILLION Views” (2023). The video was featured in “Kamiwaza” (2023), a television show produced by TBS in Japan. His classical piano is heard in a scene in Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley movie (2021). In 2019 he was Artist-in-Residence at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, where performed, taught, and presented, all primarily on the topic of video game music.
VGP’s musical journey launched in 2004, when a video of the formerly called The Blindfolded Pianist playing Super Mario pieces with the Super Mario theme played blindfolded premiered on eBaum’s World and gprime.net. The video soon became viral, and about one year after the premiere of the video, VGP performed at PAX 2005 at the Meydenbauer Center, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema as part of the Celebrity Guests Signature Series with 21 encores after VGP’s concert, and the BradyGames booth at E3. In 2006 VGP performed at PAX 2006, the BradyGames booth at E3, an iam8bit party at Gallery 1988, Harucon II, The Union Club of Cleveland, was featured in MTV’s “The G-Hole,” and appeared in an article on the front page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer Arts section. The article is titled, “Pianist Makes a Name as Video Game Virtuoso.” In 2007 VGP performed at the 4players.de booth at the Games Convention (Germany), Solon Center for the Arts, and Case Western Reserve University.
He’s performed at game conventions and events such as: E3, GDC, PAX, German Games Convention, Blizzard Worldwide Invitational (Paris), BlizzCon, Brasil Game Show, RazerCon, Comic Conventions in Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, and San Francisco, Biz-eSports Summit, Canadian Video Game Awards, Game Audio Network Guild Awards (with Koji Kondo and Shigeru Miyamoto in attendance), GamesBeat Summit, Harucon II, SITACon, “Walk of Game”, & X-TEAM, among others, as well as in 17 countries and 5 continents with Video Games Live, created by Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall.
He’s performed in notable venues such as Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Kennedy Center, Steinway Hall, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Beacon Theatre (NYC), Benaroya Hall, Conexus Arts Centre (Regina),, Dubai World Trade Center, Bass Performance Hall, Glad Tidings Church (Sudbury), Greek Theatre, Heinz Hall, Jones Hall, Massey Hall (Toronto), MasterCard Center (Beijing), Microsoft Theater, National Concert Hall (Ireland), Queen Elizabeth Theatre (Vancouver), Royal Festival Hall (England), Strathmore Music Center, TCU Place (Saskatoon), Tokyo International Forum, Torwar Arena (Poland), TSB Arena (New Zealand), and Woolsey Hall (Yale University), among others.
VGP’s performances have been reviewed and/or mentioned in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Wired Magazine, and NPR, among others. Martin has soloed with the symphony orchestras of Canada’s Regina, Saskatoon, and Sudbury, the Leipzig Academic Orchestra at the Gewandhaus, the Pittsburgh Symphony at Heinz Hall, and other orchestras. He is a 3-time top winner at the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition and is the recipient of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Bronislaw Kaper Awards First Prize in 2004. He is a National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Arts Week Laureate.
He’s received the Janet P. Udelson Scholarship, the Eunice Podis-Weiskopf Scholarship, the Henry & Lucy Moses Scholarship, the Catherine S. Winchell Scholarship, USC Teaching Assistantship Award and Stipend, The Art of the Piano Festival Scholarship, Pianofest in the Hamptons Scholarship, Young Musicians Foundation (YMF)/Barbara & David L. Abell Piano Scholarship, YMF/Karl & Mona Malden Scholarship in Memory of Aube Tzerko, Glendale Symphony Orchestra Association, Blanche Bobbitt Piano Scholarship, and the California State Assembly, Certificate of Recognition for Excellence in Music, among others.
VGP’s performances have been reviewed and/or mentioned in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Wired Magazine, and NPR, among others. He’s featured in a books, such as, “Soundtrack Nation: Interviews with Today’s Top Professionals in Film, Videogame, and Television Scoring” by Tom Hoover, among others. Martin is recognized globally for his authenticity and musical wit at concert halls, game conventions, fundraisers, and educational programs. In the words of Fulbright Scholar Chris Kohler in Wired magazine: “Martin Leung totally rocks the house.”
In his free time, Martin has ran 7 marathons with a personal best time of 2:56, and is an expert-rated chess player.
