Lin_1600x660

Lin_1600x900-1
Photo by Sophie Zhai
Lin_1600x900-2
Photo by Sophie Zhai
Lin_1600x900-3
Photo by Sophie Zhai
Lin_1600x900-4
Photo by Sophie Zhai
Lin_1600x900-5
Photo by Sophie Zhai
Cho-Liang Lin conducts & plays Mozart’s Second Violin Concerto in D Major
Miyazaki Festival
Jimmy’s Record Shelf Volume #1

“Musically sound, technically secure and completely honest…”

The Seattle Times

“The work is a showpiece for a virtuoso, and Cho-Liang Lin took full advantage. He squeezed as much passionas he could into the slow, wandering melody of the first movement and was dazzling in the cadenza.”

The New York Times

“At expansive yet highly flexible tempos, and with painstakingly sculpted phrasing, Lin ­honored the composer’s musical architecture as much as his singing line, setting some breathtakingly played upper-string melodies against a throaty earthiness in the lower strings.”

The Washington Post

“His mastery of technique and sonorities is dazzling, stunning, amazing but never for ­demonstration’s sake. “Poetic, engaged”, always “refined and well bred”, the American ­violinist wins our admiration without reserve.”

Classica

“Lin’s technique is magnificent, his intonation immaculate, with a glittering top, breadth and radiance below. His playing is so seemingly effortless that one can disregard technical ­matters and simply dwell on the musicianship.”

The Buffalo News

“Amid such musical thickets, soloist Cho-Liang Lin was a beacon of musical charisma, his unmistakably husky violin tone constantly drawing in your ear just as you were ready to declare defeat amid this high-velocity piece.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Cho-Liang Lin was born in Taiwan. A neighbor’s violin studies convinced this 5-year old boy to do the same. At the age twelve, he moved to Sydney to further his studies with Robert Pikler, a student of Jenő Hubay. After playing for Itzhak Perlman in a master class, the 13-year old boy decided that he must study with Mr. Perlman’s teacher, Dorothy DeLay. At the age fifteen, Lin traveled alone to New York and auditioned for the Juilliard School and spent the next six years working with Ms DeLay.

A concert career was launched in 1980 with Lin’s debut playing the Mendelssohn Concerto with the New York Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta . He has since performed as soloist with virtually every major orchestra in the world. His busy schedule on stage around the world continues to this day. However, his wide ranging interests have led him to diverse endeavors. At the age of 31, his alma mater, Juilliard School, invited Lin to become faculty. In 2006, he was appointed professor at Rice University. He has been music director of La Jolla SummerFest and the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival. Ever so keen about education, he was music director of the Taiwan National Symphony music camp and youth orchestra for four years.

In his various professional capacities, Cho-Liang Lin has championed composers of our time. His efforts to commission new works have led a diverse field of composers to write for him. The list includes John Harbison, Christopher Rouse, Tan Dun, John Williams, Steven Stucky, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Bright Sheng, Paul Schoenfield, Lalo Schifrin, Joan Tower and many more. Recently, he was soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Nashville Symphony and Royal Philharmonic.

Lin performs on the 1715 Stradivari named “Titian” or a 2000 Samuel Zygmuntowicz. His many concerto, recital and chamber music recordings on Sony Classical, Decca, BIS, Delos and Ondine can be heard on Spotify or Naxos.com. His albums have won Gramophone Record Of The Year, Grammy nominations and Penguin Guide Rosettes.