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 12, he moved to Sydney to further his studies with Robert Pikler, a student of Jenő Hubay. After playing for Itzhak Perlman in a masterclass, the 13-year old boy decided that he must study with Mr. Perlman’s teacher, Dorothy DeLay. At the age of 15, 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, The Juilliard School, invited Lin to become faculty. In 2006, he was appointed professor at Rice University. He served as artistic director for La Jolla SummerFest for 18 years. He is currently the Artistic Director of the J&A Beare Premier Festival in Hong Kong. In 2019, he founded the Taipei Music Academy & Festival to bring the foremost musicians from around the world to work and perform with a select group of young musicians.

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. 

In 2020, Music America bestowed upon him the “Instrumentalist of The Year” Award. Lin performs on the 1715 “Titian” Antonio Stradivari, 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.