Fired New York Philharmonic Players Contest Their Dismissals 

Former principal players Liang Wang and Matthew Muckey have filed complaints alleging that the investigation on them was “biased”

In the fall of 2024, the New York Philharmonic dismissed its associate principal trumpet Matthew Muckey and principal oboist Liang Wang, following “credible claims against them of sexual assault and harassment.”

The pair, who have continued to challenge their firings from the orchestra, have now filed amended complaints saying an investigation led by the Philharmonic was based on an arbitrary and opaque inquiry made to find fault against them, The New York Times reported. 

Muckey’s amended complaint states that he provided the orchestra’s external investigator with Facebook messages from one of his accusers, identified as C.S., which he alleged proved their relationship was consensual.

Likewise, Wang says in his own complaint that he had a consensual long-term relationship with one of his accusers. He further added that he was not given enough information about the accusations against him to respond. 

In Muckey’s filing, he alleged NY Phil and the Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) union had engaged in a “sham process calculated to achieve a predetermined finding of wrongdoing,” and that the case was “the epitome of the #MeToo movement gone awry.” Wang’s lawsuit claims the inquiry was “neither impartial nor open-ended.”

The pair also brought back their complaints against Local 802 of the AFM, accusing the union of failing to provide them fair representation, while stating that the Philharmonic’s decision not to pursue a just cause termination reflected weaknesses in the case.

Claims were first brought against Muckey and Liang in 2018, which led to their dismissals from the NY Phil after the orchestra engaged a former federal judge to conduct an independent investigation. 

At the time, the players took their case to their union, Local 802, which challenged the firings; in 2020, the pair were reinstated, as ordered by an arbitrator. 

However, when details of a sexual harassment case resurfaced last year in a report in Vulture of New York Magazine, the NY Phil conducted a new investigation and moved to fire Muckey and Wang. According to The NY Times, Local 802 is no longer challenging their dismissals.