Conductor fudged CV - And where's the $16,000 viola?

MARION VAN DIJK/Nelson Mail

CV FIDDLING: Orchestra conductor David Lindup, in jail awaiting sentencing on GST fraud charges, appears to have dressed up his CV. A viola maker is also looking for a $16,000 viola it gave to Lindup to sell on commission.

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Disgraced orchestra conductor David Lindup appears to have embellished his CV, claiming to have played professionally with at least three British orchestras that have no record of him.

A "very concerned" professional violin and viola maker from England has also contacted the Nelson Mail saying he was worried about the whereabouts of a $NZ16,198 hand-made viola he gave to Lindup to sell on commission three years ago.

Lindup, 30, who is in jail awaiting sentencing next month after admitting nine GST fraud charges, conducted the Nelson Symphony Orchestra. He maintains through his lawyer, John Sandston, that he played with the orchestras listed on his biography on the Nelson School of Music website, but said it was on a casual basis in the mid to late 1990s, which is why there would be no formal record.

Lindup also said he had arranged for a representative in Britain to return the missing viola to its maker, Mr Sandston said.

Between February and November last year, a company of which Lindup was the sole director and shareholder was credited $866,733 for GST returns on musical equipment, including violas, violins and bows, that he did not buy.

Lindup lodged GST claims for $1.35 million, which would equate to him buying $11 million worth of instruments.

Lindup's biography on the website of the School of Music, where he taught, says he studied at Oxford and performed professionally with several orchestras, including the London-based Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra.

Dominic Jewel, a broadcast assistant at the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (its actual name), told the Mail by email that the orchestra had no record of Lindup working with it.

Mr Jewel had checked with several people who had worked there for years and no one remembered Lindup.

However, "he may have played with us on a student placement scheme at some time in the past, and this would explain why there are no records of him or why no one can recall his name. It's pretty safe to say, however, that he has never worked for us professionally."

Dawn Day, from the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, said there were records of everyone who had played with the academy and Lindup's name did not appear.

- © Fairfax NZ News