An acccused US violinist protests his innocence
NewsWe have received the following message from Cho Liang Lin who has faced allegations of sexual harrassment in Taiwan. The allegations have not been tested in a court of law or investigated by police:
For over forty years my career has been forged on the principles of discipline, integrity and perfectionism. I am deeply saddened by the recent allegations against me.
These days, in order not to affect the young students of the TMAF festival, I quietly continue to devote myself to music and work, hoping that the society will calm down the social disputes as soon as possible. Let music continue to present the beautiful and kind side of human nature.
I have never in my life tried to make anyone uncomfortable, nor have I ever violated anyone without their consent. I apologize if I have made anyone feel uncomfortable or unsafe, and I sincerely feel remorse.
I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my friends, colleagues and music lovers who have always supported me. Your trust and friendship have given me infinite strength and hope in this dark moment.
四十多年來我的職業生涯是在紀律、
這些日子為了不願影響到音樂節的年輕學子，
我的一生中從未試圖讓任何人感到不自在，
在此衷心感謝一直支持我的朋友、同事和愛樂者，
Ok. So does this means that two Taiwanese women are completely making everything up or exaggerating to extremes?! Although there are cases where “victims” do in fact lie as they have sinister intentions, it’s quite rare based on statistics. Also, I don’t think the two accusers know each other at all yet both have made their allegations public. It’s very important for any other victims to come forward as well now.
I think what happens is that when the “inappropriate behavior” is occurring, the perpetrator simply doesn’t care or fully process what’s happening, perhaps they are used to it. However, when SHTF, it’s such a shock to them that part of their brain shuts down and they actually believe at that point in time that they are completely innocent, that it was a mutual encounter until the victim had buyer’s remorse. But when two or more come forward, you really don’t have a leg to stand on.
Not the case at all. Two “allegations” aren’t conclusive.
No, it’s not ‘quite rare’ at all. You need to get out more!!
It would be interesting if investigators interviewed the women and came up with common elements that only they would know (I won’t get descriptive because it might turn you on).
“Other victims”. That presumes the two ladies whose complaints came several years apart were in fact victims. If so, they certainly deserve to be heard and to present more concrete evidence. Has any such evidence been made public in the last 5 weeks? Indeed have either of the ladies been heard from in any capacity since then? According to the Taiwan News one incident actually occurred in New York, not in Taiwan.
As for “other victims”, have any come forward given that the door for such allegations has been opened for them for some time? I think the answer these questions is a very definite “no”.
Innocent until proven guilty!
That’s an Anglo-American criminal law standard, the allegations were made in Taiwan, which does not share the same judicial system or legal framework.
Presumption of innocence is what separates civilized people from the primitives.
Women seem to have little alternative, given the super predatory nature of males so often described on these pages, but to dress like Victorians and behave as though they had an untouchable iron cage around themselves. Better still they can shroud themselves in middle eastern garb and the men can have sex with boys (as often happens there).
Win win.
What does the truth of this matter have to do with judicial systems or legal frameworks? The only “trial” here is by social media all all of you sorts that “know” what “happened”. Such BS. So many opinions by those who can’t possibly know the truth of the matter. Yet….so many act as judge and jury.
” … nor have I ever violated anyone without their consent.”
What does that even mean?
It’s a bad translation!
Right? Myself, I always seek someone’s consent before violating them.
English is not his native language, give the guy a break, and obviously the message was not some slick defense drafted by a lawyer, so give him at least credit for that.
Two things stand out: The allegations were made in an Asian country, hardly fertile ground of #metoo, so the alleged acts were really serious for an Asian country, and the outcome will be commensurate with how Asians handle such things, quietly swept under the rug the accusers encouraged not to upset society and the patriarchy, it would not surprise me if the police won’t even investigate.
Are you sure about the native language thing? He grew up in Australia!
I was wondering the same thing!
I believe what we’re reading is a Google Translate from Chinese? Perhaps the translation lacks nuance.
Yes: I put the Chinese text into Google Translate (both the traditional and simplified versions of Chinese) and the English translation in both cases is identical to the English text shown here.
That doesn’t mean that it captured the meaning! The nuances of meaning take thoughtful consideration – beyond the ability of Google.
This may be a translation issue. I’m guessing he first commented in his native language and it had to be translated into English.
He was born in Taiwan but has lived and worked in the US for decades. One assumes he understands what the word “violate” means, even though English was not his first language.
Nor have I violated without consent. He’s guilty of terrible abuse4
While abuse is a huge problem in the music profession, needless to say – sexual, power imbalance, what have you, there’s no doubt that the ease with which accusations can be made nowadays and are guaranteed to be taken seriously inevitably means that abusers could be not only those who are abusing, but also those who are making allegations.
People respond to incentives, and no group is immune to sociopaths, whatever its history. This observation is worth keeping in mind, while noting that the situation above remains far from resolved.
He is on the faculty at the conservatory (Shepherd School of Music, Rice University) I attended. I still have good friends there I keep in touch with. I’m told that there have been no complaints, rumors or any whiff of scandal there…for what that’s worth. He is not one of the warm/fuzzy type faculty members. He can be hard on students so I do wonder if that could be at play here. I do think the allegations should be taken seriously but as others have said….he should be given the presumption of innocence.
“A accused…” if you don’t mind, Mr Lebrecht
An accused…
No. ‘An accused’ is correct, but accused has only two Cs, not three!
Echt ?
If William Safire were alive today and writing his column, On Language, he would agree it’s “An accused…”
Of course. My silly mistake: it’s because ‘accused’ starts with a vowel (eg, substitute ‘extraordinary’ but if it were “stupid US etc” then An becomes A
How do you violate with consent’?
As stated above, the translation is crude – and “violate” was not the appropriate word-choice to express the meaning of the Mandarin. For those of you who don’t speak foreign languages, the art of translation is not to literally translate words, but to translate the meaning – which can be VERY different. Please remember when Khrushchev addressed a group of Western ambassadors in 1956 – his translator translated his words as “WE WILL BURY YOU”. Now, perhaps that’s what Khruschev said in Russian, but the literal English translation did NOT convey his meaning – and almost started World War 3.
At a dungeon?
Over my lifetime, the concept of sexual harassment has changed from, for example, casually placing a hand on a fanny to “inappropriate” requests, like going out for a cocktail after the concert. There is no list of what actions constitute “sexual harassment” (If there is, please post a reference) so some might be caught up in this by accident. Police often avoid this complex issue and leave complaints on the shelf. Major institutions have often looked the other way (Catholic Church, Boy Scouts, etc.) and are finally being punished.
When I joined the US Government in 1970, they had a very clear policy. Any relationship that evolved beyond friendship would not be allowed if both were in the same administrative unit. Seemed like a good idea then an even now.
I can only hope that where you live, ‘fanny’ is not as offensive as it is where I live. Going out for a cocktail is mild in comparison to ‘casually placing a hand on a” c**t.
Same old, same old. Blah, blah, blah. Too many of these witch-hunt stories now. Guilty until proven innocent everytime, it seems.
Setting the allegations aside, I can confirm that this guy is a total douche. He’ll talk shit about one of his own students to his other students. Not to mention he’s a dick to the accompanists his students bring in. Someone else mentioned that they had to work with this guy in an orchestral setting and that he/she felt the same way… so I just wanted to confirm that part is at least true.
Nothing wrong in this. We can all be rude at times without being abusers.
Of course, Norman. But it’s important to let people who have interacted with him speak as I feel that too many people are trying to make him look like a saint. I’ve been around Mr. Lin several times in the past and he always acted fine. But Asia is full of vertical societies, meaning that he could be all polite to his professional colleagues while acting like a monster toward students as well as other young musicians. For example, there was a guy from Taiwan who everyone thought was the nicest guy going yet he acted very violent toward me on a few occasions simply because I was dating an attractive Juilliard student who just happened to be Taiwanese. Their behavior changes based on their position…they can be very Jekyll and Hyde.
Maxim Taneyov’s unwarranted vitriol shows that he is the same poster as A Violinist who posted in the initial thread on this subject. As he wrote then, he takes every opportunity to malign Mr. Lin’s performances despite this having absolutely nothing to
do with the subject matter of this thread. He is a typical troll who should not be permitted posting privileges.
Many of us have known him since he started his career as a solo violinist in his twenties. He has always been a very mature and serious person. He has been a perfect gentleman throughout his life. It is absolutely shocking to see the accusations against him. I do hope these baseless claims are quickly seen for what they really are.
Ah, so you know these accusations are ‘baseless’?
What? Just because you think you know him, the claims must be baseless? Sorry for your state of shock. But I’ll wait and see before accepting that the accusations are baseless.
Always listen to both sides before coming to a conclusion. I wonder why bringing up this after many years?
None of the commentators know what and if anything happened,so hold your horses.Don’t conduct a trial without any knowledge,just hearsay.Women can be vindictive.They are not always as innocent as they profess.Let the justice system run its course.
why must society punish people for their private lives? why do some people believe it’s their duty to judge and convict someone based on what others say or charge outside of court? it’s his life. leave him alone and leave his private life out of your worries snowflake.
One wonders, can they all be lying? We understand that in court we are presumed innocent until proven guilty. We should also not condemn as liars, people who claim to be a victim without proof of their lying. So if there are victims brave enough to come forward with accusations, let us see what the courts reveal.
I have heard stories since the early 90s alleging complaints against Mr. Lin. One story alleged that a student at the Aspen Music Festival was so distraught at whatever happened between her, another faculty member at the Aspen Music School named Robert McDuffie and Mr. Lin, that she attempted suicide upon returning home after the festival. I wonder about her attempting suicide over “nothing”.
Strange isn’t it Jamal that the only information I can find anywhere to back up your “stories” concerns a faculty member at Aspen molesting a student – a male student! Please supply evidence to back up your “stories”!
So “Jamal has heard stories”. My! Oh My! And on the basis of “stories” he makes conclusions. Well I have checked a number of sources about the excellent Aspen Music Festival, and the wonderful violinists Robert McDuffie and Cho-liang Lin. Is it not odd, Jamal, that this Mr. McDuffie whom you allege to be at the centre of “stories” that include an attempted suicide by a student will be involved in no less than three events at this year’s Aspen Festival next month? Do you, Jamal, believe that had your “story” had even an iota of anything – to say nothing of the truth – that Mr. McDuffie would ever have appeared again at the Aspen Festival thereafter? Is that not totally extraordinary, given that he has appeared at Aspen on more than 40 occasions?
Mr. Lin has also been a regular of more than 30 seasons at Aspen. But then Jamal has heard “stories” and without a tiny shred of evidence or even an article from a news outlet or even, God forbid, social media, freely talks here about victims and accusations and suicide. Let me make it clear to you Jamal. The truth has nothing to do with “stories”. It is to do with facts. And from your post it is perfectly clear facts play absolutely no part in your “stories”. Stick to facts in future, please, and use them to back up your “stories”! Otherwise you merely spout nonsense!
It seems Nick feels that if you are rehired at a music festival, you could not have done wrong. James Levine kept his job at the Met Opera for 40 years while accusations raged, but he finally got fired. Stephen Shipps had a 40 year teaching career despite decades of accusations (and yes, accusations usually become stories) and those accusations finally caught up with him:
https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/former-um-music-professor-stephen-shipps-gets-prison-on-child-sex-charges/
I don’t read anything in Jamal’s post about “conclusions”. He writes: “let us see what the courts reveal.” I agree.
As Bill points out Levine’s sexual issues were well known within the music industry for decades. Long before they became public knowledge, some writers were even referring obliquely to them. His was not a case of one or two but a much larger number of young men – not that the number of occasions is important; if one happened it was disgraceful enough.
The point is that there was a large number of young men involved. The issue in Taiwan is that two women have made allegations and I understand these were on social media, a platform not available to most of those molested by Levine. As far as I am aware, these are isolated examples. Again as far as I am aware, Mr. Lin has performed regularly in many Asian and western countries for decades. Have there been any allegations where the MeToo movement is strongest? Not to my knowledge. At any of the teaching institutions he has been involved with for decades? Not to my knowledge. Those who have alleged inappropriate behavior deserve to be heard and to provide many more details. But some posters here make the assumption that two reports on the basis of “I say, you say” will open floodgates. I do not read the US media, but has any other student come out categorically to state she was sexually molested by the violinist? I think not!
As has been noted in another post, the first of just two allegations was made 12 years ago when the lady who visited Mr. Lin’s hotel room stated in her comments that she was wearing a bikini! The first question anyone should surely be asking is: is this a normal form of dress when visiting someone who is effectively a senior? She does not say she was asked to appear in a bikini. Indeed, I can think of no other occasion where I have heard of a prearranged meeting with a complainant wearing a revealing bikini!
When we look through the history of males molesting females, as far as I can recall it has been the males who have been in near undress. This lady needs to explain the bikini issue before that alleged issue goes any further in my view.
“This lady needs to explain the bikini issue before that alleged issue goes any further in my view.” No she doesn’t!
LOL u seem to be an expert on male- female relations, appropriate use of bikini attire and data related to male vs female conflict. Or more likely probably just obsessed with the defense of Cho Liang Lin and men in general. I wonder why. I can think of several reasons- none of them good.
So we can take it from your post that if you as a musician had arranged with an Artistic Director a meeting in his hotel room, you would be perfectly happy to turn
up in a bikini? Now why do I find that more than unbelievable!