Lin Cho-liang

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Lin Cho-liang (Traditional Chinese: 林昭亮; born 1960 in Hsinchu, Taiwan) is a Taiwanese-American violinist who is renowned for his appearances as a soloist with major orchestras. "Musical America" named him its "Instrumentalist of the Year" in 2000. He founded the Taipei International Music Festival in 1997, the largest classical music festival in the history of his native country, performing to an outdoor audience of over 30,000.

[edit] Career

Lin was born in Hsinchu, a quiet college town 100 km (60 miles) south of Taipei, a research center where his father worked as a nuclear physicist. He began playing violin at the age of five. Recognizing that he needed to pursue his violin studies abroad, he made his way to Australia by himself when he was only 12 years old; he spent three years in Sydney. His commanding technique and precocious abilities then led him to Juilliard School, where he studied with the eminent Dorothy DeLay, teacher to such greats as Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, Midori Goto, and Sarah Chang. He made his public debut in New York at the age of 19, playing the Mozart Third Concerto at Avery Fisher Hall.

This meteoric rise to the top ranks of violin-playing has placed him among the most sought-after violinists in the world. He plays regularly with leading orchestras, and teaches also at his alma mater, Juilliard, as well as the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Sergei Prokofiev is among Lin's favorite composers. During the 2000-2001 season, he played the First Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in March, as well as in Aspen, Tokyo and Paris. He plays a Guarneri del Gesù violin made in 1734, and most of his recordings can be found on the Sony Classical label.