[2] Du Yun was named as one of the 38 Great Immigrants by the Carnegie Corporation of New York in 2018,[3] and received a 2019 Grammy nomination in the category of Best Classical Contemporary Composition for her work Air Glow.

On her earlier years growing up in Shanghai, Du Yun recounted, in her contribution to WQXR, that neither of her parents went to college and both were factory workers in China.

[10] When Du Yun studied in junior high school in Shanghai, she collected cassette tapes from singer Faye Wong, Chen Sheng, Dou Wei, Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson.

During her first year of college, British band Portishead released a new album, and Du Yun fell into the world of trip hop.

Du's works have been performed internationally in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Guangzhou Opera House, the Salle Pleyel Paris, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Escola de Música do Estado in São Paulo, the Darmstädter Ferienkurse in Germany, and London's Southbank Centre.

[22][23][24][25] The citation for the prize reads: "Premiered on January 6, 2016, at the Prototype Festival, 3LD Arts and Technology Center, New York City, a bold operatic work that integrates vocal and instrumental elements and a wide range of styles into a harrowing allegory for human trafficking in the modern world.

"[26] She is the composer of the musical Dim Sum Warriors, based on a graphic novel and bilingual iPad app series about Kung Fu-fighting dumplings by the Singaporean filmmaker, satirist, and cartoonist Colin Goh and Yenyen Woo.

The musical debuted on August 11, 2017, to sold-out audiences at Theatre Above in Shanghai, and went on to tour in 25 major cities in China the following year.

The work was co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall, London's Southbank Centre, the Kennedy Center, American Composers Orchestra and CalPerformances.

On the first two nights of her Stone residency, her art-pop band, OK Miss, ventures through breathy Chinese pop, seductive trip-hop, and metallic skronk.

"[35] Du Yun has done works for the Guangzhou Triennial,[36] The Shanghai Project,[37] Cordoba Contemporary Arts Center,[38] and the Sharjah Biennial.

"[40] Du Yun founded and curated the Pan Asia Sounding Festival at National Sawdust in March 2018, as part of the Spring Revolution.

[42] Du Yun started a global initiative, FutureTradition, to advocate folk arts and promote cross-regional collaborations.

"[47] Her onstage performing persona has been described as "adventurously eclectic" and "an indie diva with avant garde edge"[48] by The New York Times.

[50] Her work for Jennifer Koh, Give Me Back My Fingerprints, is listed as Top 25 Classical Music Tracks of 2019 by The New York Times.

[51] Her studio albums Angel's Bone, Dinosaur Scar, A Cockroach's Tarantella and Sweet Land are listed as Notable Recordings of The Year in 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2021 respectively, by The New Yorker.

Notable collaborations include with visual artist Shahzia Sikander, flutist Claire Chase, librettist Royce Vavrek, and pipa player Wu Man.