Cho-Liang Lin

violin

Cho-Liang Lin was born in Taiwan and moved to Sydney, Australia, at the age of 12 to further his violin studies with Robert Pikler. After playing for violinist Itzhak Perlman in a master class at age 13, he decided that he had to study with Perlman’s teacher, Dorothy DeLay. At age 15, Lin traveled alone to New York, auditioned for The Juilliard School, and spent the next six years working with Ms. DeLay. He launched his concert career in his early 20s, when he played the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the New York Philharmonic, led by then-Music Director Zubin Mehta. He has since performed as soloist with virtually every major orchestra in the world.

In 1991, at the age of 31, Lin joined the faculty of The Juilliard School, and in 2006, he became a professor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. He was music director of the La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest for 18 years, and he currently serves as artistic director of the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival. Recently, he founded the Taipei Music Academy and Festival.

Many leading composers have written works for Lin, including John Harbison, Christopher Rouse, Tan Dun, John Williams, Steven Stucky, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Bright Sheng, Paul Schoenfield, Lalo Schifrin, and Joan Tower, among others. His recent solo engagements include the New York, Munich, and Royal philharmonic orchestras and the Detroit, Toronto, Cincinnati, and Nashville symphony orchestras.

Cho-Liang Lin performs on the 1715 “Titian” Stradivari and a 2000 Samuel Zygmuntowicz. His many recordings can be heard on the Sony Classical, Decca, BIS, Delos, and Ondine labels. His albums have been honored with Gramophone’s Record of the Year Award, Penguin Guide Rosettes, and Grammy Award nominations.