Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman has both popularized and raised the standard of classical music. Born in 1945 in Tel Aviv, Perlman became a polio victim at the age of four, but the leg braces and crutches have done nothing to stop a globetrotting career. At the age of thirteen, he gave his first performance in New York, and stayed to attend Juilliard. His official debut at Carnegie Hall took place in 1963. Since that breathtaking concert, Perlman has been as committed to attracting audiences to the great composers as he has been to his playing their extraordinary music. He has always had an extensive tour schedule of concert halls around the world. Still, he makes time to appear on Sesame Street, or the Tonight Show, for the summer Berkshire crowd at Tanglewood, or in the open air of the Hollywood Bowl. In 1986, President Reagan presented Perlman with the Medal of Liberty to honor his virtuosity and outreach. It was Perlman who was the host at the center of the famous Three Tenors (Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras) television program of 1994. There is also film: he was the violin soloist on the soundtrack of Schindler’s List, and played with Yo-Yo Ma for Memoirs of a Geisha. In 2003, Perlman became the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Chair in Violin Studies at the Juilliard School, a position which honors his own teacher when he was a young student.
