ITZHAK PERLMAN
VIOLIN / CONDUCTOR
“One of the world’s most acclaimed and talented classical musicians…”
Photo credit: Masterclass.com
Undeniably the reigning virtuoso of the violin, Itzhak Perlman enjoys superstar status rarely afforded a classical musician. Beloved for his charm and humanity as well as his talent, he is treasured by audiences throughout the world who respond not only to his remarkable artistry, but also to his irrepressible joy for making music.
Having performed with every major orchestra and at concert halls around the globe, Mr. Perlman was granted a Presidential Medal of Freedom – the Nation’s highest civilian honor – by President Obama in 2015, a National Medal of Arts by President Clinton in 2000, and a Medal of Liberty by President Reagan in 1986. Mr. Perlman has been honored with 16 GRAMMY® Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Kennedy Center Honor, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Genesis Prize.
In the 2024/25 season, Mr. Perlman celebrates the 30th anniversary of his iconic PBS special In the Fiddler’s House with performances in Cleveland, Kansas City, Costa Mesa, Bethesda, and Mesa alongside today’s klezmer stars including Hankus Netsky, Andy Statman and members of the Klezmer Conservatory Band. He is joined by an illustrious group of collaborators – Emanuel Ax, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the Juilliard String Quartet – in a special Itzhak Perlman and Friends program in select appearances presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, UC Santa Barbara’s Arts & Lectures, and the San Francisco Symphony. His orchestral engagements include Cinema Serenade programs with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Tucson Symphony, and Nashville Symphony as well as a concerto performance with the Colorado Symphony. He continues touring An Evening with Itzhak Perlman, which captures highlights of his career through narrative and multi-media elements intertwined with performance, and plays recitals across North America including Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Antonio, West Palm Beach and Sarasota among others with pianist Rohan De Silva in their 25th anniversary season.
Over the past thirty years, Mr. Perlman has been devoted to music education, mentoring gifted young string players alongside his wife Toby in the Perlman Music Program. He has taught full-time at the Program each summer since its founding in 1994. With close to 800 alumni, PMP is shaping the future landscape of classical music worldwide.
Mr. Perlman has an exclusive series of classes with Masterclass.com, the premier online education company that enables access to the world’s most brilliant minds including Gordon Ramsay, Wolfgang Puck, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Helen Mirren, Jodie Foster and Serena Williams, as the company’s first classical-music presenter. Available exclusively at www.masterclass.com/ip, his class offers students an intimate and inspirational approach to the world of violin where he covers fundamental techniques, practice strategies, and ways to build a richer sound.
Further to his engagements as violinist and conductor, Mr. Perlman is increasingly making more appearances as a speaker. Recent speaking engagements include appearances in Texas at Lamar University, South Dakota with the John Vucurevich Foundation, Washington D.C. for the Marriott Foundation and New York, in conversations with Alan Alda at the 92nd Street Y and Alec Baldwin at New York University.
An award-winning documentary on Mr. Perlman, titled “Itzhak”, premiered in October 2017 as the opening film of the 25th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival. It was released theatrically in over 100 cinemas nationwide in March 2018, with international releases that followed in Summer 2018. Directed by filmmaker Alison Chernick, the enchanting documentary details the virtuoso’s own struggles as a polio survivor and Jewish émigré and is a reminder why art is vital to life. For more information, visit www.itzhakthefilm.com. In October 2018, the film made its debut on PBS’ American Masters in a broadcast throughout the United States.
Mr. Perlman’s most recent album features him in a special collaboration with Martha Argerich. Released by Warner Classics, it marked a historic first studio album for this legendary duo exploring masterpieces by Bach, Schumann and Brahms. It had been 18 years since their first album, a live recital from the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. On that momentous occasion in 1998, in addition to recording the material for their initial disc, the pair recorded Schumann’s Violin Sonata No. 1. The Schumann Sonata at long last was released in 2016 alongside new material, making the album a fascinating ‘then and now’ portrait of how two living legends have evolved musically.
Mr. Perlman recorded a bonus track for the original cast recording of the critically acclaimed Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof, released on Broadway Records in March 2016. The cast recording features Perlman on a track titled “Excerpts from Fiddler on the Roof,” arranged by John Williams.
The year of 2015 brought three record releases in celebration of Mr. Perlman’s 70th birthday: A Deutsche Grammophon album with pianist Emanuel Ax performing Fauré and Strauss Sonatas, a 25-disc box set of his complete Deutsche Grammophon and Decca discography, and a 77-disc box set of his complete EMI/Teldec discography titled Itzhak Perlman: The Complete Warner Recordings.
In 2012, Sony released Eternal Echoes: Songs & Dances for the Soul, featuring a collaboration with acclaimed cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot in liturgical and traditional Jewish arrangements for chamber orchestra and klezmer musicians, and in 2010, Sony released a recording of Mendelssohn Piano Trios with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Emanuel Ax. Highlights of albums over the last two decades have included a Deutsche Grammophon album with Mr. Perlman conducting the Israel Philharmonic, a live recording with Martha Argerich performing Beethoven and Franck Sonatas (EMI); Cinema Serenade featuring popular hits from movies with John Williams conducting (Sony); A la Carte, a recording of short violin pieces with orchestra (EMI) and In the Fiddler’s House, a celebration of klezmer music (EMI) that formed the basis of the PBS television special. In 2004, EMI released The Perlman Edition, a limited-edition 15-CD box set featuring many of his finest EMI recordings as well as newly compiled material, and RCA Red Seal released a CD titled Perlman rediscovered, which includes material recorded in 1965 by a young Itzhak Perlman. Other recordings reveal Mr. Perlman’s devotion to education, including Concertos from my Childhood with the Juilliard Orchestra under Lawrence Foster (EMI) and Marita and her Heart’s Desire, composed and conducted by Bruce Adolphe (Telarc).
Mr. Perlman has entertained and enlightened millions of TV viewers of all ages on popular shows as diverse as The Late Show with David Letterman, Sesame Street, The Frugal Gourmet, The Tonight Show, and various Grammy Awards telecasts. His PBS appearances have included A Musical Toast and Mozart by the Masters, as well as numerous Live from Lincoln Center broadcasts such as The Juilliard School: Celebrating 100 Years. In 2008, he joined renowned chef Jacques Pépin on Artist’s Table to discuss the relationship between the culinary and musical arts, and lent his voice as the narrator of Visions of Israel for PBS’s acclaimed Visions series. Mr. Perlman hosted the 1994 U.S. broadcast of the Three Tenors, Encore! Live from Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. During the 78th Annual Academy Awards in 2006, he performed a live medley from the five film scores nominated in the category of Best Original Score for a worldwide audience in the hundreds of millions. One of Mr. Perlman’s proudest achievements is his collaboration with film composer John Williams in Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award-winning film Schindler’s List, in which he performed the violin solos. He can also be heard as the violin soloist on the soundtrack of Zhang Yimou’s film Hero (music by Tan Dun) and Rob Marshall’s Memoirs of a Geisha (music by John Williams).
The year of 2018 marked the 60th anniversary of Itzhak Perlman’s U.S. debut and appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, which took place on November 2, 1958. This milestone was celebrated with a return to the Ed Sullivan Theater on November 2, 2018 in a special guest appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Mr. Perlman has a long association with the Israel Philharmonic and has participated in many groundbreaking tours with this orchestra from his homeland. In 1987, he joined the IPO for history-making concerts in Warsaw and Budapest, representing the first performances by this orchestra and soloist in Eastern bloc countries. He again made history as he joined the orchestra for its first visit to the Soviet Union in 1990, and was cheered by audiences in Moscow and Leningrad who thronged to hear his recital and orchestral performances. This visit was captured on a PBS documentary entitled Perlman in Russia, which won an Emmy. In 1994, Mr. Perlman joined the Israel Philharmonic for their first visits to China and India.
Over the past two decades, Mr. Perlman has become actively involved in music education, using this opportunity to encourage gifted young string players. Alongside his wife Toby, his close involvement in the Perlman Music Program has been a particularly rewarding experience, and he has taught full-time at the Program each summer since its founding in 1993. Mr. Perlman currently holds the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Chair at the Juilliard School.
Numerous publications and institutions have paid tribute to Itzhak Perlman for the unique place he occupies in the artistic and humanitarian fabric of our times. Harvard, Yale, Brandeis, Roosevelt, Yeshiva and Hebrew universities are among the institutions that have awarded him honorary degrees. He was awarded an honorary doctorate and a centennial medal on the occasion of Juilliard’s 100th commencement ceremony in 2005. Itzhak Perlman’s presence on stage, on camera, and in personal appearances of all kinds speaks eloquently on behalf of the disabled, and his devotion to their cause is an integral part of his life.
Mr. Perlman has performed multiple times at the White House, most recently in 2012 at the invitation of President Barack Obama and Mrs. Obama, for Israeli President and Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree Shimon Peres; and at a State Dinner in 2007, hosted by President George W. Bush and Mrs. Bush, for Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh. In 2009, he was honored to take part in the Inauguration of President Obama, premiering a piece written for the occasion by John Williams alongside cellist Yo-Yo Ma, clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Gabriela Montero, for an audience of nearly 40 million television viewers in the United States and millions more throughout the world.
Born in Israel in 1945, Mr. Perlman completed his initial training at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. An early recipient of an America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship, he came to New York and soon was propelled to national recognition with an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1958. Following his studies at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian and Dorothy DeLay, he won the prestigious Leventritt Competition in 1964, which led to a burgeoning worldwide career. Since then, Itzhak Perlman has established himself as a cultural icon and household name in classical music.
“Perlman’s great (and undiminished) gift is to deliver timeless, mainstream music to his audiences with uncomplicated affection, directness and humanity.”
The Washington Post
“Itzhak Perlman is a superstar in classical music. And not just there: No other violinist enjoys his level of recognition among people who don’t even go to traditional concerts.”
The New York Times
“Indisputably one of the great violinists …”
The Guardian
“As a violinist, Itzhak Perlman is a rock star of the classical world. As a conductor, he’s about as expressive as a man can be with his back turned. Onstage Perlman showed he can be as skilled and sympathetic a leader as he is a virtuoso performer.”
“He puts across a terrific presence — a saturation that goes full force to the end of the phrase. And then there’s that silvery tone which doesn’t come along often.”
“Itzhak Perlman wows the crowd.”
Toronto Star
“[He has] an absolute ease with the instrument and a deeply soulful musicality that permeates everything he plays.”
“Perlman proved a nimble and attentive conductor able to easily coax the orchestra towards the limits of its dynamic range. He conducted [Beethoven 7] with vigor, spurring the orchestra to sink its teeth into a piece whose dominant emotion is often simple joy. He pulled the reins just often enough to keep things interesting, pacing the players enough for the symphony to finish with a breathless flourish.”
“A recital by Itzhak Perlman is inevitably a journey into perfection: virtuosity of the highest order, the sweetest tone imaginable, impeccable intonation, absolutely even scalework, mature musicianship and a pleasant stage persona to boot.”
“With Perlman, Tchaikovsky and Mozart on the bill, that’s about as sure a crowd-pleasing combination as you can get — and the ovations were thunderous. The violinist-turned-conductor does have a grand, coherent conception of what he wants, and the orchestra played luxuriously well for him.”
“The real star of the show was the legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman … for an unforgettable night embodying true Hollywood romanticism. Mr. Perlman played with vulnerability and love, sweeping concert goers away to faraway places.”
“One of the world’s most acclaimed and talented classical musicians …”
Yahoo! News
“With klezmer, Perlman appears to be perfectly at home… the look of sheer delight that continually illuminates his face underscores the sense of discovery that touches almost every note he plays.”
“Last Monday was one of the best concerts I’ve heard so far this season. Itzhak Perlman led the Juilliard Orchestra in an all-Tchaikovsky program at David Geffen Hall. I love the commitment and brio of student orchestras, and these young musicians were true to form. The glory of the evening — surprise, surprise! — was the warm and expressive string tone that Perlman elicited from the orchestra, in a hall notoriously unfriendly to such qualities. Vibrato in unison was the watchword of the night, and the sound bloomed from the stage with unerring beauty. Blindfolded, one even might have mistaken them for the Philadelphia Orchestra.”
“They were line-dancing in the Symphony Hall Boston aisles, several hundred audience members, on Sunday night. The performers on stage were Itzhak Perlman and a band of klezmer musicians; and the occasion was the 20th anniversary of Perlman’s 1995 PBS special and recording ‘In the Fiddler’s House.’ On Sunday, in a sold-out house, laughter predominated, precipitated as much by Perlman’s hilarious spoken asides as by the music.”
“This is vintage, songful Perlman: each line in the Fauré and Strauss sonatas is beautifully drawn and meticulously judged and everything overlain with an attractive patina of age and experience. Ax imbues the romance and fire of these youthful works with genuine warmth and wisdom; it’s as though these two veteran performers are taking a wistful look back over long and eventful careers, while still excited by the possibilities to come. A disc to treasure.”