Itzhak Perlman ( he, יצחק פרלמן; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist widely considered one of the greatest violinists in the world. Perlman has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that have included a State Dinner at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

honoring

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

, and at President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

's inauguration. He has conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Westchester Philharmonic. In 2015, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Perlman has won 16 Grammy Awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and four Emmy Awards.

Early life

Perlman was born in 1945 in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

. His parents, Chaim and Shoshana Perlman, were

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

natives of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

and had independently emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel) in the mid-1930s before they met and later married. Perlman contracted

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe sym ...

at age four and has walked using leg braces and crutches since then and plays the violin while seated. , he uses crutches or an electric Amigo scooter for mobility. Perlman first became interested in the violin after hearing a classical music performance on the radio. At the age of three, he was denied admission to the

Shulamit Conservatory The Ron Shulamit Conservatory is a music conservatory in Israel. History Shulamit Conservatory Music education developed in Israel largely due to the pioneering efforts of (1873–1912), an opera singer trained in Berlin and Arthur Ruppin's f ...

for being too small to hold a violin. He instead taught himself how to play the instrument using a toy fiddle until he was old enough to study with Rivka Goldgart at the Shulamit Conservatory and at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv (now the

Buchmann-Mehta School of Music The Buchmann-Mehta School of Music (BMSM) is an institute of higher education in Tel Aviv, Israel. The school is a part of the Faculty of the Arts of Tel Aviv University and is operated in collaboration with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO). ...

), where he gave his first recital at age 10. He moved to the U.S. at age 13 to study at the Juilliard School with the violin teacher Ivan Galamian and his assistant Dorothy DeLay.

Career

Performing

Perlman appeared on '' The Ed Sullivan Show'' twice in 1958, and again in 1964, on the same show with the Rolling Stones. He made his debut at Carnegie Hall in 1963 and won the

Leventritt Competition The Leventritt Competition was a highly prestigious international competition for classical pianists and violinists. It was founded in 1939 by the Edgar M. Leventritt Foundation Inc. of Cold Spring, New York, in memory of jurist Edgar M. Leventri ...

in 1964. Soon afterward, he began to tour widely. In addition to an extensive recording and performance career, he has continued to make appearances on television shows such as '' The Tonight Show'' and '' Sesame Street'' as well as playing at a number of

functions. Although Perlman has never been billed or marketed as a singer, he sang the role of "Un carceriere" ("a jailer") on a 1981 EMI recording of Puccini's "

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language dr ...

" that featured Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo, and Renato Bruson, with James Levine conducting. He had earlier sung the role in an excerpt from the opera on a 1980 Pension Fund Benefit Concert telecast as part of the Live from Lincoln Center series with Luciano Pavarotti as Cavaradossi and

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father was the fou ...

conducting the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

. On July 5, 1986, Perlman performed at the

's tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, which was televised live on ABC. The orchestra, conducted by Mehta, performed in

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

. In 1987, Perlman joined the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) for its concerts in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

and

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

as well as other cities in

Eastern bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

countries. He toured with the IPO in the spring of 1990 for its first-ever performance in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, with concerts in Moscow and

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, and again in 1994, performing in China and India. In 2015, on a classical music program titled ''The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center'' produced by WQXR in New York City, it was revealed that Perlman performed the uncredited violin solo on the 1989

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the " Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since th ...

song " The Downeaster Alexa". While primarily a solo artist, Perlman has performed with a number of other musicians, including Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, Jessye Norman,

Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (russian: Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. He i ...

, Isaac Stern, and Yuri Temirkanov at the 150th anniversary celebration of Tchaikovsky in Leningrad in December 1990. As well as playing and recording the classical music for which he is best known, Perlman has also played

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

, including an album made with jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, and klezmer. He has been a soloist in a number of film scores, such as the theme of the

1993 film The year 1993 in film involved many significant films, including the blockbuster hits ''Jurassic Park'', '' The Fugitive'' and ''The Firm''. (For more about films in foreign languages, check sources in those languages.) Highest-grossing films Th ...

Schindler's List ''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel '' Schindler's Ark'' by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film ...

'' by John Williams, which won an

Academy Award for Best Original Score The Academy Award for Best Original Score is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by ...

. More recently, he was the violin soloist in the

2005 film 2005 in film is an overview of events, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, festivals, a list of country-specific lists of films released, notable deaths and film debuts. Evaluation of the year Renowned American film critic a ...

'' Memoirs of a Geisha'' along with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Perlman played selections from the musical scores of the movies nominated for "Best Original Score" at the 73rd Academy Awards with Ma and at the 78th Academy Awards.

Selected performances

Perlman played at the state dinner attended by Queen Elizabeth II on May 7, 2007, in the East Room at the

. He performed John Williams's " Air and Simple Gifts" at the 2009 inauguration ceremony for

along with Ma (cello), Gabriela Montero (piano), and Anthony McGill (clarinet). The quartet played live, but the music played simultaneously over speakers and on television was a recording made two days earlier due to concerns that the cold weather could damage the instruments. Perlman was quoted as saying: "It would have been a disaster if we had done it any other way." He made an appearance in Disney's '' Fantasia 2000'' to introduce the segment '' Pines of Rome'', along with Steve Martin. On November 2, 2018, Perlman reprised the 60th anniversary of his first appearance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' as a guest on '' The Late Show with Stephen Colbert''.

Teaching

In 1975, Perlman accepted a faculty post at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College. In 2003, he was named the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Chair in Violin Studies at the Juilliard School, succeeding his teacher, Dorothy DeLay. He also teaches students one-on-one at the Perlman Music Program on Long Island, NY, rarely holding master classes.

The Perlman Music Program

The Perlman Music Program, founded in 1994 by Perlman's wife, Toby Perlman, and Suki Sandler, started as a summer camp for exceptional string musicians between the ages of 12 and 18. Over time, it expanded to a yearlong program. Students have the chance to have Perlman coach them before they play at venues such as the

Sutton Place Synagogue Sutton Place Synagogue (Jewish Center for the United Nations) is a Traditional Jewish congregation located at 225 East 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The congregation was founded in 1901 as Congregation "Beth Hamedrash Hachodos ...

and public schools. By introducing students to each other and requiring them to practice together, the program strives to have musicians who would otherwise practice alone develop a network of friends and colleagues. Rather than remain isolated, participants in the program find an area where they belong.

Conducting

At the beginning of the new millennium, Perlman began to conduct. He took the post of principal guest conductor at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He served as music advisor to the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra from 2002 to 2004. In November 2007, the Westchester Philharmonic announced his appointment as artistic director and principal conductor. His first concert in these roles was on October 11, 2008, in an all-

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

program featuring pianist Leon Fleisher performing the Emperor Concerto.

Instruments

Perlman plays the ''

Soil Stradivarius The ''Soil Stradivarius'' (pronounced ) of 1714 is an antique violin made by Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari of Cremona (1644–1737). A product of Stradivari’s golden period, it is considered one of his finest. ''The Soil'' was acquired by ...

'' violin of 1714, formerly owned by

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to t ...

and considered one of the finest violins made during Stradivari's "golden period." Perlman also plays the Guarneri del Gesù 1743 'Sauret' and the Carlo Bergonzi 1740 'ex-Kreisler'.

Personal life

Perlman lives in New York City with his wife, Toby, also a classically trained violinist. They have five children, including

Navah Perlman Navah Miriam Perlman is a concert pianist and chamber musician. Her parents are violinists Toby and Itzhak Perlman. Education and career Perlman performed as a soloist with the Greater Miami Youth Symphony Orchestra in 1984, and the Los Angeles ...

, a concert pianist and

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small num ...

ian. Perlman is a distant cousin of the Canadian comic and television personality Howie Mandel. He has

synesthesia Synesthesia (American English) or synaesthesia (British English) is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People who rep ...

and was interviewed for ''Tasting the Universe'' by Maureen Seaberg, which is about the condition.

Discography

* ''Tradition'' (1987) * ''Duos'' (1987) * ''Vivaldi: The Four Seasons/3 Violin Concertos'' (1992) * '' Dvořák in Prague: A Celebration'' (Sony Classical, 1994, and Kultur Video, 2007) * ''The American Album'' (1995) * ''In the Fiddler's House'' (1995) * ''Holiday Tradition'' (1998) * ''

Concertos from My Childhood ''Concertos from My Childhood'' is a collection of famous student concertos, performed by Itzhak Perlman. They are all important pieces in violin pedagogy for beginning to intermediate students. The orchestra is from New York's Juilliard School, w ...

'' (EMI, 1999) * ''The Essential Itzhak Perlman'' (Sony Classical, 2009) * ''Eternal Echoes: Songs and Dances for the Soul '' (Sony Classical, 2012) with Yitzchak Meir Helfgot * ''Violin Sonatas'' (Universal Music Classics/Deutsche Grammophon, 2015) * ''The Perlman Sound'' (Warner Classics, 2015) With Andre Previn * ''The Easy Winners'' (Angel Records, 1975) * ''

A Different Kind of Blues ''A Different Kind of Blues'' is a 1980 album by Itzhak Perlman and André Previn. It contains compositions by Previn. Reception The album was reviewed by Richard S. Ginnel at Allmusic who wrote of Previn and Perlman that "the two classical part ...

'' (EMI/Angel, 1980) * ''It's a Breeze'' (EMI/Angel, 1981) With Oscar Peterson * ''Side by Side'' (TELARC CD-83341 1994)

Honors and awards

The GENESIS Prize 2016 Press Event (27289506693)

1964:

– Winner *1977: Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra):

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread ...

: The Four Seasons *1978: Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:Beethoven: Sonatas for Violin and Piano (w/

) *1978: Grammy Award for Best Classical Album: Brahms: Concerto for Violin in D *1980:

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

: Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra): The Spanish Album *1980:

Best Chamber Music Performance The Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance was awarded from 1959 to 2011. The award was discontinued in 2012 in a major overhaul of Grammy categories; since 2012, recordings in this category have fallen under the Best Small Ensemble Perfor ...

: Music for Two Violins (w/ Pinchas Zukerman) *1980: Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra): Brahms Violin and Cello Concerto in A Minor (w/ Mstislav Rostropovich) (TIE) *1980: Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra): Berg: Violin Concerto/Stravinsky: Violin Concerto in D (TIE) *1981: Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra): Isaac Stern 60th Anniversary Celebration (w/ Isaac Stern & Pinchas Zukerman) *1981: Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance: Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A Minor (w/ Lynn Harrell &

) *1982: Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra): Elgar: Violin Concerto in B Minor *1987: Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:

: The Complete Piano Trios (w/ Lynn Harrell &

) *1987: Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra): Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 2 and 4 *1990: Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance: Brahms: The Three Violin Sonatas (w/ Daniel Barenboim) *1990: Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra): Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1 in A Minor/GlazunovL Violin Concerto in A Minor *1995: Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra): The American Album—Works of Bernstein, Barber, Foss *1997: Elected member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communi ...

*2003: Kennedy Center Honors *April 1980: '' Newsweek magazine'' featured Mr. Perlman with a cover story. *1986: Honored with the Medal of Liberty by President Reagan. *1992:

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

: Outstanding Classical Program in the Performing Arts: Perlman in Russia *1994:

: Outstanding Individual Achievement: Cultural Programming *1996:

: Outstanding Cultural Music-Dance Program: Itzhak Perlman: In the Fiddler's House *1999:

: Outstanding Classical Music-Dance Program: Itzhak Perlman: Fiddling for the Future *2000: Awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton *2002: Elected member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...

*2005: Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet o ...

presented by Awards Council member

Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in Fr ...

. *2008: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award *2015: Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama *2016: Awarded the Genesis Prize by the Prime Minister of Israel. *2017: Subject of the documentary ''Itzhak'' directed by

Alison Chernick Alison Chernick is a Grammy-nominated New York City-based writer, director and filmmaker. She is a voting member of AMPAS, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Biography Chernick's first documentary was on contemporary artist Jeff Koo ...

References

External links

Itzhak Perlman Primo Artists
* *

in the World Concert Artist Directory * *
PBS American Masters: ItzhakItzhak Perlman interview on The Charlie Rose Show
(video), August 9, 2010

March 19, 2011
Itzhak Perlman & John Williams interview on The Charlie Rose Show
(video), August 8, 1997
The Perlman Music Program
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perlman, Itzhak 1945 births Living people 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century classical violinists 20th-century Israeli male musicians 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century classical violinists 21st-century Israeli male musicians American classical violinists American male conductors (music) American male violinists American people of Polish-Jewish descent Angel Records artists Brooklyn College faculty Deutsche Grammophon artists Edison Classical Music Awards Oeuvreprijs winners EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists Emmy Award winners Grammy Award winners Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Israeli classical violinists Israeli conductors (music) Israeli emigrants to the United States Jewish Israeli musicians Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Jewish American classical musicians Jewish classical violinists Juilliard School alumni Juilliard School faculty Kennedy Center honorees Leventritt Award winners Male classical violinists Musicians from Tel Aviv People with polio Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients United States National Medal of Arts recipients Wheelchair users 20th-century American violinists 21st-century American violinists