DANA LYN
MENTORING
"Make bad art."
"We want to hear something unexpected."
IMPROV
"Do something you don't think is a good idea."
INSIGHT
Click on the Picture above to listen to Dana discuss her music journey.
Headshot Photo Credit: AIDAN GRANT
BIO
As a violinist and keyboard player, DANA LYN is at home in multiple musical worlds, ranging from classical to folk, contemporary and improvisatory music. She has worked and performed a wide variety of artists such as Grammy Award-winning vocalists Loudon Wainwright and Susan McKeown; the late great Scots fiddler Johnny Cunningham; D’Angelo and the Vanguard, Sting, Bruce Springsteen
and the Walkmen.
Ms. Lyn currently collaborates and performs with Tony Award-winning musicians Stew and Heidi Rodewald; Irish poet Louis de Paor; actor-directors Ethan Hawke and Vincent D’Onofrio; performance artist Taylor Mac; avant cellist Hank Roberts; drummer Billy Martin; guitarist Kyle Sanna and the Elysian Fields, among others. She has performed at New York’s Lincoln Center, Beacon Theater, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie and Town Halls, as well as folk festivals and dive bars the world over.
As a composer, Dana has received commissions from the Brooklyn Rider, the Apple Hill String Quartet, the National Arts Council of Ireland, fiddler Martin Hayes and the New Orchestra of Washington. Her music was featured on WNYC’s New Sounds and has been performed at the Savannah Music Festival, the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, the Stillwater Music Festival and in Carnegie Hall. Dana is also a well-versed fiddle player in the Irish tradition. Her own projects include a mixed quintet, “Mother Octopus“, a collaboration with actor Vincent D’Onofrio called "Slim Bone Head Volt", and a duo with guitarist Kyle Sanna.
Most recently, Dana was an artist in residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in the Spring of 2017.
Dana was an artist-in-residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in 2017 and a member of the Joe's Pub Working Group in 2018. She is a recipient of the 2018 American Composers Forum's "Create" Commission and most recently, a recipient of the 2020 NYCF Women's Fund MOME grant. Her work has also been supported by the Avaloch Music Farm, the Irish Arts Center, Pomegranate Arts and the Marble House Project.
Dana is the on-stage violinist in the Original Broadway Production of "Hadestown".
Listen to Dana's music career path.
