Perlman was born in 1945 in Tel Aviv. His parents, Chaim and Shoshana Perlman, were Jewish natives of Poland and had independently emigrated to Mandatory Palestine in the mid-1930s before they met and later married. Perlman contracted polio at age four and has walked using leg braces and crutches since then[3] and plays the violin while seated. As of 2018[update], he uses crutches or an electric scooter for mobility.[4]
When Perlman was three years old, he sat and listened attentively to a violin recital on the radio, which inspired him to become a violinist. His mother soon bought him a toy violin, and he instantly taught himself to play melodies. His parents tried to enroll him at the Shulamit Conservatory, but he was denied admission for being too small to hold a violin.[5] Despite his handicap, he began learning the violin a year later. His first teacher was a café violinist. At age five, Perlman was admitted to the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv (now the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music), where he studied for eight years with Rivka Goldgart, a violin teacher of Russian origin, and gave his first recital at age ten.[6][7] He moved to the United States at age 13 to study at the Juilliard School and Meadowmount School of Music[2] with the violin teacher Ivan Galamian and his assistant Dorothy DeLay.[8]
In addition to an extensive recording and performance career, Perlman has continued to make appearances on television shows such as The Tonight Show and Sesame Street as well as playing at a number of White House functions.
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 song "The Downeaster Alexa".
Perlman played at the state dinner attended by Queen Elizabeth II on May 7, 2007, in the East Room at the White House.[32]
He performed John Williams's "Air and Simple Gifts" at the 2009 inauguration ceremony for Barack Obama 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."[33]
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.[34]
Teachingedit
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 Programedit
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.[35] 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 and public schools.[36] 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.[37]
Conductingedit
At the beginning of the new millennium, Perlman began to conduct.[38] 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 program featuring pianist Leon Fleisher performing the Emperor Concerto.
Perlman lives in New York City with his wife, Toby, also a classically trained violinist. They have five children, including Navah Perlman, a concert pianist and chamber musician. Perlman is a distant cousin of the Canadian comic and television personality Howie Mandel.[40] He has synesthesia and was interviewed for Tasting the Universe by Maureen Seaberg, which is about the condition.[41]
Discographyedit
Prokofieff: Concerto No.2 in G Minor / Sibelius: Concerto in D Minor (RCA Victor, 1967)
Violin Concertos / Romance (RCA Red Seal 1968, BMG Classics, 2000)
Franck: Sonata for Violin & Piano (Vladimir Ashkenazy) in A Major / Brahms: Trio for Violin, Horn (Barry Tuckwell) and Piano in E flat Major (London Records, 1969)
^Schleier, Curt. "Itzhak Perlman's inspiring musical journey, and 50-year marriage, in new film". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
^ abc"Itzhak – Itzhak Perlman Biography". American Masters. PBS. October 4, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
^"'I Woke Up and I Couldn't Walk': This is the Polio That should become Just a Memory". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
^Lee, Ji Hyun (December 26, 2014). "How They Roll". The New York Times. Retrieved December 26, 2014.
^"Israeli Violin Prodigy Admits He Likes Jazz: But Doesn't Play It, Says Lad, 13, Who Overcame Polio to Become Noted Artist". Los Angeles Times. November 29, 1958. p. B1. ProQuest 167374800.
^"Perlman, Itzhak". Oxford Music Online. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
^Potter, Tully (January 20, 2001). "Perlman, Itzhak". Grove Music Online. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.21349.
^"Perlman, Itzhak Biography: Contemporary Musicians". Enotes.com. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
^Duration: 60 min. "Watch The Ed Sullivan Show Season 12 Episode 8 Itzhak Perlman / Carol Lawrence & Larry Kert / Film: Ed Sullivan Visits Jerusalem". Ovguide.com. Archived from the original on March 17, 2012. Retrieved July 1, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ abPredota, Georg (August 31, 2022). "On This Day 31 August: Itzhak Perlman Was Born". Interlude. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
^"1965 May 09 Subscription". NY Phil Archives. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
^"Boston Symphony Orchestra Eighty-Sixth Season 1966-1967: Eleventh Program". Archive.org. p. 645. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
^"Itzhak Perlman: Virtuoso of the Violin". Academy of Achievement.
^Predota, George (August 31, 2022). "On This Day 31 August: Itzhak Perlman Was Born". Interlude. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
^"1965 May 09 / Subscription Season / Steinberg". Archives New York Philharmonic. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
^"New York Philharmonic Daily Digital Archives". New York Phil. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
^Cariaga, Daniel (July 12, 1991). "MUSIC REVIEW : Good News Follows Perlman to Bowl". Los Angeles Times.
^"HE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC CONCLUDES ITS 2012 SUMMER CLASSICAL SEASON AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL WITH ITZHAK PERLMAN PERFORMING TCHAIKOVSKY". LaPhil. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
^Rosenberg, Donald (2000). The Cleveland Orchestra Story: "second to none". Gray. p. 365. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
^"Classical Music: Chicago Plans 3 Subscription Pkgs". Billboard. 72. September 17, 1966.
^"Ravinia Festival Opens June 28". Musical Leader and Concert Goer. 98 (9): 5. 1966.
^"Boston Symphony Orchestra Eighty-Sixth Season 1966-1967: Eleventh Program". Archive.org. p. 645. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
^"WayBackWednesday". Twitter. Berlin Philharmoniker. May 25, 2022. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
^"Itzhak Perlman". thirteen.org. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
^"SALZBURG FESTIVAL ARCHIVE: Repertoire Archive 1972". Salzburger Festspiele. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
^"Liberty Receives Classical Salute, Sun Sentinel, July 5, 1986". Archived from the original on February 23, 2015.
^"John Denver and Itzhak Perlman playing Bluegrass". YouTube.
^Pincus, Andrew (2002). Musicians with a Mission: Keeping the Classical Tradition Alive. UPNE. p. 47. ISBN 9781555535162.
^"20 years later: Stars at the 2001 Academy Awards and after-parties". New York Daily News. April 21, 2021.
^"Itzhak Perlman at the Fox is the epitome of true mastery | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com.
^"News releases for May 2007". whitehouse.gov (Press release). May 7, 2007. Retrieved September 4, 2007 – via National Archives.
^Quartet pre-recorded Obama music. BBC News (January 23, 2009).
^Norman Lebrecht (November 3, 2018). "60 Years On, Itzhak Perlman Reprises His Ed Sullivan Appearance". slippeddisc.com.
^"The Perlman Music Program: Toby's Project Grows and Grows". Strings. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
^"Perlmans' Proteges: The Perlman Music Program". Strings. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
^"Perlman Student Stirling Trent". Strings. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
^"The Daily Gazette – Google News Archive Search". Retrieved July 3, 2016.
^"Cozio.com – comprehensive information about antique Italian stringed instruments". Archived from the original on August 25, 2012. Retrieved October 16, 2012.
^Brownfield, Paul (June 21, 1998). "New Afternoon Arrival". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
^Seaberg, Maureen (2011). Tasting the Universe: People Who See Colors in Words and Rainbows in Symphonies. Red Wheel/Weiser. ISBN 978-1-60163-667-6.
^"APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
^"Newsweek cover story 1980". Archived from the original on September 14, 2002. Retrieved March 25, 2008.
^ ab"Perlman awards". Archived from the original on September 14, 2002. Retrieved March 25, 2008.
^"2005 Summit Highlights Photo". 2005. Itzhak Perlman, 2005 Academy guest of honor and legendary violinist and conductor, at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
^"President Obama Names Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom". whitehouse.gov. November 16, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2015 – via National Archives.
^Phil Helsel – "Obama honoring Spielberg, Streisand and more with medal of freedom," NBC News, November 24, 2015. Retrieved November 25, 2015.