NY Philharmonic Fires Two Players

Not exactly, but that's what they are trying to do, according to a story in the Times by Michael Cooper: principal oboist Liang Wang and associate principal trumpet player Matthew Muckey have both been placed on unpaid leaves of absence. The orchestra plans to dismiss them and there are discussions going on with the musicians' union.

The reason for both dismissals is unspecified misconduct. From the story:

The orchestra said in a terse statement only that after it had received reports that the two players had “engaged in misconduct,” it retained Barbara S. Jones, an attorney at Bracewell and a former federal judge, to investigate. An orchestra official said the investigation took five months.

“Following the investigation, the Philharmonic advised the musicians that their employment was terminated,” the orchestra said in the statement. “At the request of their union, the Philharmonic delayed the implementation of the termination and placed the musicians on an unpaid leave of absence pending the union’s review of the matter.”

The players’ union, Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, said in a brief statement only that it was “aware of and currently looking into this matter.”