Martin Leung – Video Game Pianist

“A brilliant pianist” (The Times of London), Martin Leung—widely known as Video Game Pianist—has spent more than two decades inspiring audiences worldwide. He is one of the first pianists to gain worldwide recognition for performing video game music on the piano, both in concert venues and online videos. Alongside his groundbreaking work in video game music, he champions classical music through his performances and teaching. Martin holds degrees in piano performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) with academic honors, the Yale School of Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Southern California.

Highlights & Contributions

  • In 2025, Martin performed Star Trek music live in the presence of legendary actor George Takei, a career milestone that showcased his ability to bridge popular culture and fine art.
  • His iconic Super Mario Medley video (2004, pre-YouTube) was referenced in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) and featured in YouTube’s documentary Celebrating the Mario Community + 100 BILLION Views (2023). It was also spotlighted on Japan’s TBS program Kamiwaza (2023) for its historic influence.
  • Martin was Artist-in-Residence at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance (2019) and presented the webinar Video Game Music Motivates Students for the Music Teachers’ Association of California (2024).
  • His classical piano performance can also be heard in Guillermo del Toro’s Academy Award-winning film Nightmare Alley (2021).

History of Video Game Pianist

Martin’s journey began in 2004 when a video of him—when he was then called The Blindfolded Pianist—playing the Super Mario theme blindfolded and other Super Mario pieces premiered on websites during the early Web 1.0 era. At the time, performing video game music on the piano was highly unusual, which made the performance stand out and quickly go viral.

Within a year, Martin was invited to perform at PAX 2005, where he famously gave 21 encores, and at events such as the BradyGames booth at E3 and the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Celebrity Guests Signature Series. In 2006, MTV’s The G-Hole featured his work, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer ran a front-page Arts section article titled “Pianist Makes a Name as Video Game Virtuoso.”

Concerts & Collaborations

Martin has performed in 17 countries and 5 continents at prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the Kennedy Center, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and London’s Royal Festival Hall. He has soloed with orchestras including the Pittsburgh Symphony, Leipzig Academic Orchestra, the symphonies of Regina, Saskatoon, and Sudbury, the USC Thornton Symphony, and the CIM Orchestra.

He is a frequent performer at major gaming and entertainment events including E3, PAX, BlizzCon, Brasil Game Show, Video Games Live, and GamesBeat Summit. In 2011, he premiered Poem of the Adventurer, a composition by Michael Glenn Williams blending Chopin’s “Heroic” Polonaise with The Legend of Zelda theme, later featured in International Piano magazine.

Recognition & Beyond the Concert Stage

Martin is a three-time top winner at the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition and winner of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Bronislaw Kaper Awards (First Prize, 2004). His work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Nintendo Power, Wired Magazine, NPR, and in books such as Soundtrack Nation by Tom Hoover.

In addition to performing, Martin has taught piano for over a decade and is currently a music professor at Mt. San Antonio College. Many of his students have gone on to attend prestigious music programs, and one of his former students, Kodi Lee, went on to win America’s Got Talent Season 14. He has also served as a judge for local piano competitions, inspiring the next generation of musicians.

Martin’s musicianship is further demonstrated by his 99th-percentile score on Harvard’s Music Lab IQ Music Test (2020) and his first-place finishes in the global Theta Music ear training competition (2013 and 2014). Outside music, Martin is an expert-rated chess player and a marathoner with a personal best of 2:56 at the 2023 Los Angeles Marathon, where he placed 81st overall out of 16,940 participants.