Dana attended the New England Conservatory in Boston, where his teachers included Robert Nagel, and Charles Schlueter. He was awarded a performance degree with distinction in 1982.Some of his first professional work during school was with Sarah Caldwell and the Opera Company of Boston, cutting his teeth on many of the operatic workhorses by Puccini, Verdi, Bernstein and numerous contemporaries.

He currently holds positions in the Boston Ballet Orchestra, the Portland Maine Symphony, the Boston Philharmonic, and is principal trumpet of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, a mostly summer schedule group that plays every concert free to the public. Dana was solo trumpet of Gunther Schuller’s New England Ragtime Ensemble, as well as Boston Musica Viva.

Other groups include the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Albany Symphony, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), and Chorus Pro Musica.

Dana can be heard on numerous soundtracks for PBS and A&E as both background musician and soloist.

He is adjunct faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, MIT, and The Boston Conservatory.