Vienna Teng

Songwriter, singer and pianist Vienna Teng began her unlikely music career after graduating from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science in 2000. While working as an engineer at Cisco Systems, she recorded a debut album that landed her a profile on NPR’s Weekend Edition. That broadcast, in turn, led to a performance on The Late Show with David Letterman, who declared that he’d listened to the whole album and that there was “not a dud on it.” Her brand of sophisticated, piano-driven pop has been gathering accolades ever since: “seductive and transcendent” (Amazon.com), “gorgeously conceived.accomplished yet understated” (Paste), “singular among her peers” (Variety). She has released four studio albums, which have charted on Billboard and appeared in Amazon.com’s top 10 best-sellers, and regularly sells out theaters across the U.S. and Europe.

Despite a rewarding life in music, Vienna returned to academia in 2010 to pursue her interest in social and environmental issues. At the University of Michigan’s Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise, she will earn an MBA and an MS in Natural Resources & Environment. In summer 2011, she did energy efficiency work for Facebook as an EDF Climate Corps Fellow.