Warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual violence and assault. 

The New York Philharmonic has put two musicians accused of sexual misconduct on leave of absence.

According to the New York Times, the orchestra announced Monday, April 15, that the musicians Matthew Muckey, an associate principal trumpet, and Liang Wang, the principal oboist would not be rehearsing or performing with the orchestra for the immediate future.

The news comes a day after the New York Magazine published an article detailing the alleged sexual misconduct. It also comes after the New York Philharmonic noted that it had tried to fire both Muckey and Wang in 2018 but was forced to rehire the musicians after the union challenged their dismissal. In 2020, an independent arbiter found that Muckey and Wang had been terminated without cause.

According to the New York Magazine’s expose, Muckey and Wang drugged and raped horn player Cara Kizer. The report noted that the night after the incident Kizier found a tampon “that she had put in the previous day had been pushed so far into her vagina she had trouble removing it.” According to the article, while Muckey’s DNA was found in Kizer’s tampon, the DA failed to prosecute as “the hair-follicle test ‘did not meet the standards for litigation.’” The case was then closed and the two musicians remained in the orchestra.

The New York Philharmonic reopened the case after the 2017 Me Too movement began, and hired Barbara S. Jones, a former federal judge, to conduct an independent investigation. The investigation found unrelated allegations of sexual misconduct against Wang and the earlier rape allegation against Muckey. After six months, the Philharmonic concluded that the two men had “engaged in misconduct warranting their termination.” The two were fired in 2018 but they denied the allegations. They were rehired in 2020 after an independent investigator determined that “events at issue occurred some 8, 10 and 12 years prior” and the “potential degradation of corroborative evidence over time.”

Following the report, many major composers, musicians, educators, leaders, and allies have signed a petition calling for the reopening of the investigation.