{"id":54614,"date":"2018-06-15T10:36:09","date_gmt":"2018-06-15T14:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=54614"},"modified":"2018-06-15T10:46:41","modified_gmt":"2018-06-15T14:46:41","slug":"the-scoop-tso-associate-principal-clarinetist-awarded-350000-against-ex-for-sabotaging-his-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2018\/06\/15\/the-scoop-tso-associate-principal-clarinetist-awarded-350000-against-ex-for-sabotaging-his-career\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SCOOP | TSO Associate Principal Clarinetist Awarded $350,000 Against Ex For Sabotaging His Career"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"An
An Ontario Superior Court judge has awarded $ 350,000 in damages to McGill clarinetist Eric Abramovitz in a lawsuit against his former girlfriend for sabotaging his career.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An Ontario Superior Court judge has awarded $350,000 in damages to McGill University music graduate Eric Abramovitz\u00a0in a lawsuit against his ex-girlfriend, Jennifer Jooyeon Lee. The judgement was based on her interfering in his career with fraudulent schemes that caught to prevent him from accessing a scholarship that would have allowed him to study with a world-renowned teacher in the United States.<\/p>\n

The events occurred in 2013\u20132014.\u00a0In 2013, Abramovitz, a gifted musician who now holds the Associate Principal Clarinet <\/a>seat with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, applied for a two-year scholarship to the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles.\u00a0Yehuda Gilad is a renowned teacher who only accepts two students a year.<\/p>\n

The scholarship was worth $50,000 a year, which would cover most of his tuition and living expenses.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0the Montreal Gazette<\/a>, who broke the story, after taking the first steps of the selection process, Abramovitz went to audition in Los Angeles in February 2014. A month later, he received an email announcing that he was accepted.\u00a0However, Lee, who lived with Abramovitz and had his password, intercepted the email and deleted it.<\/p>\n

Lee then responded to the Colburn Conservatory pretending to be Abramovitz, indicating that he would be declining the scholarship.\u00a0She then created a spoof email account in the name of\u00a0Yehuda Gilad\u00a0(giladyehuda09@gmail.com) and wrote a message to Abramovitz telling him that he had not been accepted, but was instead offered a place at the University of Southern California (USC), with a scholarship of $5,000. \u00a0The annual tuition at USC is $51,000, an amount Lee knew Abramovitz would not be able to afford.<\/p>\n

Subsequently, Abramovitz decided to complete his studies at McGill. But it was only in 2015, after his separation from Jennifer Lee, that he discovered the subterfuge.<\/p>\n

Abramovitz eventually meet Gilad, who asked him directly why he had rejected his offer. This eventually led him to discover the fraudulent email from Lee. He also discovered that Lee had employed a similar process to decline an offer from the Juilliard School of Music.\u00a0That’s when he decided to sue Jennifer Lee for $300,000.<\/p>\n

Ontario Superior Court Judge\u00a0David L. Corbett\u00a0rendered his judgment on Wednesday and added $50,000 in exemplary damages.<\/p>\n

\u201cI accept and find that Mr. Abramovitz lost a unique and prestigious educational opportunity, one that would have advanced his career as a professional clarinetist. It is difficult to quantify such a loss. Mr. Abramovitz\u2019s life and career have continued. Imagining how his life would have been different if he had studied for two years under Mr. Gilad, and earned his teacher\u2019s respect and support, requires more speculation than the law permits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yehuda Gilad, for his part, wrote, \u201cI am very frustrated that a highly talented musician like Eric was the victim of such an unthinkable, immoral act that delayed his progress and advancement as an up-and-coming young musician and delayed his embarking on a most promising career.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Jennifer Lee, she did not appear in court, and Eric Abramovitz told the media that he was not sure he could be compensated.<\/p>\n