CHO-LIANG LIN, the Chinese-American violinist, is known the world over for the beauty of his sound as well as his technical mastery and interpretive abilities. He is one of today’s foremost violin virtuosos, appearing annually with major orchestras and on key recital and chamber music series on five continents. He was recently honored as Musical America’s Instrumentalist of the Year for 2000.

In May 2001, Lin will present the New York premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Violin Concerto with the New York Philharmonic with David Zinman conducting. In addition, his 2000/2001 season includes orchestral performances with the Boston, Houston, St. Louis, and Vancouver symphonies, as well as the Rochester Philharmonic. Overseas, he will perform with orchestras in France, Sweden, Spain, Japan, and Taiwan. He was recently named Artistic Director of SummerFest La Jolla, with his inaugural season beginning in August 2001.
In November 2000, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center saluted Cho-Liang Lin in a special concert with pianists Emanuel Ax, Jon Kimura Parker, and Bright Sheng, and cellist Gary Hoffman. This season he will present recitals with Mr. Parker in Washington and Dallas and embark on a 14-city tour of chamber music recitals with pianist André-Michel Schub, his longtime recital partner.

Lin canvassed the globe during the summer of 2000. His journeys began with a trip to Singapore and Japan, where he celebrated Isaac Stern’s 80th birthday in a gala concert in Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. He later performed the Sibelius concerto at the Naantali Festival in Finland, and returned to Chile and Argentina to play with the orchestras in Santiago and Buenos Aires. In the United States he performed at the Aspen Music Festival and with the Cincinnati Symphony. He rounded out the summer by playing in the Olympic Arts Festival in Sydney with the Asian Youth Orchestra conducted by Sergiu Commisiona.
Cho-Liang Lin returned to Taiwan in May 2000 to present his second Taipei International Music Festival. Founded in 1997 at the invitation of the president of Taiwan, it is the first large-scale international music festival in the history of his native country. Lin performed with many of his renowned colleagues in seven sold-out concerts, some of which were shown on giant television simulcasts outside the concert hall.

Cho-Liang Lin is an advocate for contemporary composers. He has premiered concertos by Tan Dun, Joel Hoffman, Christopher Rouse, Elie Siegmeister, Bright Sheng, George Tsontakis, and George Walker. In San Diego and Taipei, he will present the world premiere of two concertos by the Taiwanese composer Gordon Chin.

Cho-Liang Lin has released many recordings on the Sony Classical label, among them winners of Gramophone awards and Stereo Review “Record of the Year” honors as well as two Grammy nominations. His most recent Sony Classical albums are a disc of sonatas by Debussy, Poulenc, and Ravel with pianist Paul Crossley and a Schubert chamber music disc. He has also recorded Tan Dun’s “Out of Peking Opera” with the Helsinki Philharmonic led by Muhai Tang for the Ondine label. A recent release on Decca’s Argo label is his recording of Aaron Jay Kernis’s Concerto for Violin and Guitar with conductor Hugh Wolff, guitarist Sharon Isbin, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Born in Taiwan, Cho-Liang Lin began his studies at the age of five. As a teenager in Australia, he was inspired by a master class given by Itzhak Perlman to pursue studies with Perlman’s teacher, Dorothy DeLay. He arrived in New York in 1975 at the age of 15 and was enrolled in DeLay’s class at the Juilliard School immediately following his audition. Today, he is a member of the Juilliard faculty and resides in New York City. His violin is the 1734 Guarnerius del Gesù “The Duke of Camposelice.”