“The New York Philharmonic said Sunday that it had decided to fire two key players—its principal oboist, Liang Wang, and associate principal trumpet, Matthew Muckey—for unspecified misconduct,” writes Michael Cooper in Sunday’s (9/16) New York Times. “But it said it had delayed their dismissals while the musicians’ union reviewed the matter. The orchestra said both players had been placed on unpaid leaves of absence for now…. No details of the allegations … were provided…. After it had received reports that the two players had ‘engaged in misconduct,’ [the orchestra] retained Barbara S. Jones, an attorney at Bracewell and a former federal judge, to investigate…. The investigation took five months…. Alan S. Lewis, an attorney representing Mr. Wang, said in an email that ‘Mr. Wang … emphatically denies that he engaged in any misconduct.’ Steven J. Hyman, a lawyer for Mr. Muckey, said that ‘Mr. Muckey has not engaged in any misconduct’ [and intends] to take ‘all steps necessary to restore his good name’ and his position at the orchestra…. Deborah Borda, the president and chief executive officer of the orchestra, said … that ‘the New York Philharmonic is committed to providing an environment of respect and dignity for all of our Philharmonic family.’ ”
Posted September 17, 2018
