User:Sarahcmccollum/sandbox/Dana Lyn

Dana Lyn is a Taiwanese-American musician and composer. A multi-instrumentalist based in Brooklyn, New York, Lyn has released numerous albums since 2004 and garnered commissions to compose for the Brooklyn Rider, the Apple Hill String Quartet, the New Orchestra of Washington and the National Arts Council of Ireland. Her work ranges from classical and folk to jazz, contemporary and improvisatory music.

As an instrumentalist, Lyn has performed with Loudon Wainwright, Susan McKeown, Taylor Mac, D’Angelo and the Vanguard, Florence and the Machine, Will Oldham, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Hank Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Billy Martin and the Elysian Fields among others. Lyn currently plays in bands with varied musicians including Stew (The Negro Problem), Hank Roberts, and Kyle Sanna. She has an ongoing collaboration with Irish Poet Louis de Paor, and was featured in two documentaries on traditional Irish music, The Raw Bar and Geanntrai. Lyn also partners with actor Vincent D’Onofrio in the project, Slim Bonehead Volt.

Solo and Duo Albums
Lyn's studio solo debut was Looking for the Early Opener, an album of Irish fiddle tunes, released in 2004. In 2009, Lyn released "In Double," a duo album with Rob Moose on guitar. 2011 release of The Hare Said a Prayer to the Rainbow and Followed the Fox Down the Hole, an album of traditional and original music by Lyn’s ongoing duo project with guitarist Kyle Sanna(www.danalynkylesanna.com). Irish fiddler Kevin Burke called the album “a very innovative recording – mysterious, playful and charming… From the excellent musicianship and skillfully and fascinating arrangements to the relaxed whimsy of the CD package, the whole project is bursting with creativity, yet still manages to convey a love for simplicity – a remarkable achievement.”

In 2013, Lyn's second solo album – Aqualude was released by Ropeadope Records. Aqualude sees Lyn joined by several fellow Brooklyn musicians, now collectively known as Mother Octopus, including guitarist Jonathan Goldberger (of folk-jazz trio Surface to Air), multi-genre cellist Clara Kennedy and jazzers clarinetist Mike McGinnis and drummer Vinnie Sperrazza.

he recently completed recording a second album with guitarist Kyle Sanna due to be released in October of 2015 and is currently working on Mother Octopus’ sophomore project, a set of music and animations inspired by the life and work of Beat era visual artist Jay Defeo.

Slim Bone Head Volt, featuring Vincent D'Onofrio
www.slimboneheadvolt.com

She collaborates with actor-writer Vincent D’Onofrio on a project called Slim Bone Head Volt in which she sets his spoken-word journal “oddities” to music; the duo released their first album in March of 2015.
 * https://aestheticmagazinetoronto.com/2014/12/31/album-review-vincent-donofrio-and-dana-lyn-slim-bone-head-volt/
 * http://www.textura.org/reviews/donofriolyn_slimboneheadvolt.htm
 * http://danalynmusic.com/sbhv/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Vincent-DOnofrio-Magenta.jpg
 * https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/we-talked-to-vincent-donofrio-about-his-weird-spoken-word-album (interview)
 * https://consequence.net/2014/12/actor-vincent-donofrio-has-recorded-an-album-of-punk-rock-spoken-word/

Louis de Paor
Also ongoing is her work with noted Irish poet Louis de Paor; in 2014, she and de Paor premiered a 45- minute long performance piece entitled “One Day,” based on a seventeen-part poem of de Paor’s and Lyn’s original music and stop-action animations, as part of the Irish Arts Center “Masters in Collaboration” series. S

Brooklyn Rider
In 2014, Lyn was commissioned to compose a piece for the Brooklyn Rider album The Brooklyn Rider Almanac. The resulting song, "Maintenance Music" received positive reviews. Washington Post critic   Patrick Rucker describes it as "some of the subtlest and most idiomatic string writing of the evening." In his Boston Globe review of The Brooklyn Rider Almanac, David Weininger also makes special mention of Lyn.

Instrumentalist
She has enjoyed a niche as a go-to instrumentalist for top artists in genres from traditional folk to indie-rock. This includes singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III hiring her to lace the old-time country of his Grammy Award-winning 2009 album High, Wide and Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project, as well as the Irish-American super-group Cherish the Ladies having her play and provide arrangements for their PBS special and live CD/DVD An Irish Homecoming. Lyn has appeared on Saturday Night Live, Late Night with David Letterman and the Conan O’Brien Show, while bands such as the Walkmen, D’Angelo and the Vanguard and Florence & the Machine have tapped her for recordings and concerts.

She was a key contributor to Ethan Hawke’s off-Broadway production of Clive – see her accompanying Hawke singing in character for thisNew York Times video.

Lyn has performed with musicians across a host of genres – from veteran soul hit-maker Bill Withers and neo-soul singer D’Angelo to avant-Americana singer-songwriter Will Oldham, from hit Broadway composer and singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik to vintage-style jazz band Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks, among many others. In addition to her collaboration with Ethan Hawke in playing violin, piano and “musical doors” for Clive, Lyn has worked in theater at the highest levels. She was cast as an onstage musician in the Public Theater’s 2008 Shakespeare in the Park production of Hamlet, working with Tony Award-winning composer Mark Bennett. She also appeared as an onstage musician for productions of The Cherry Orchard and The Winter’s Tale at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of The Bridge Project directed by Academy Award-winner Sam Mendes, touring to Singapore, New Zealand, Spain and Germany in 2009. Last summer, Lyn was MD and on-stage performer in Tony Award-winning singer-songwriter/playwright Stew’s (www.stewsongs.com) new musical, Family Album, as part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon in the summer of 2014. She has also contributed as an orchestral musician to the Broadway productions of Guys and Dolls, Hands on a Hardbody, The Last Ship and most recently, Finding Neverland.

Discography
The Great Arc, full-length self-release; duo record of traditional Irish and original music with guitarist Kyle Sanna; self-release (2015)

Slim Bone Head Volt, featuring Vincent D’Onofrio and Dana Lyn”(Buddhabug Records); full-length release (2015)

Five Pieces for Quartet plus Fiddler, commissioned by the Apple Hill String Quartet (2014)

One Day, commissioned by the Irish Arts Center as part of the Masters in Collaboration Series; a 17-part poem with musical accompaniment (violin/loop station, piano, music box and bicycle wheel) and stop-action animation (2014)

''Aqualude" (Ropeadope Records); full-length release (2013)

The Hare Said a Prayer to the Rainbow and Followed the Fox Down the Hole; duo record of traditional Irish and original music with guitarist Kyle Sanna; self-release (2011)

In Double, self-release: duo project with guitarist Rob Moose (2009)

Looking for the Early Opener, self-release; album of Irish fiddle tunes (2004)

Collaborations

Maintenance Music, commissioned by the Brooklyn Rider (released in 2014 on Mercury Classics); composer (2012)

Arranger and musician; nine arrangements for string orchestra to accompany the traditional Irish group “Cherish the Ladies” for their DVD “An Irish Homecoming”, filmed for PBS (2012)

Two arrangements commissioned by the Brooklyn Rider String Quartet in collaboration with Irish fiddle player Martin Hayes, performed on NPR’s Fresh Sounds; arranger (2011)

National Army Strings commission of an original arrangement of the Third Partita for Solo Violin by JS Bach, scored for string orchestra and violin tuned to AEAE; performed at the Savannah Music Festival (2010)