In the latter twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Itzhak Perlman has been acclaimed as being among the leading violinists before the public, and, without doubt, has been the most visible of them in media venues, from recordings and radio broadcasts to television and film appearances. No other concert violinist and few other serious musicians have achieved the widespread exposure and popularity attained by Perlman.
Itzhak PerlmanRead more was born in Tel Aviv on August 31, 1945. At the age of four he was stricken with polio, which caused permanent paralysis of his legs, leaving him to rely on crutches and braces for the rest of his life. Despite his handicap, young Itzhak began showing talent on the violin, and his father Chaim, a barber, quickly recognized his son's unusual abilities and arranged for lessons for him at the Music Academy of Tel Aviv. Soon Itzhak began giving concerts and attracting attention throughout Israel. American television talent agent Ed Sullivan learned of Perlman's abilities and brought the 13-year-old to New York for a 1959 appearance on his Caravan of Stars show.
Perlman and his parents subsequently took up residency in New York City, where the young virtuoso continued to attract attention. He enrolled at the Juilliard School of Music, studying with Ivan Galamian and Dorothy DeLay. He made his official debut in 1963 at Carnegie Hall with a performance of the F sharp minor Wieniawski Concerto and went on to win the Leventritt Competition, one of whose prizes was an appearance with the New York Philharmonic, then led by Leonard Bernstein.
After these triumphs Perlman was taken on by impresario Sol Hurok and given a heavy schedule of concerts in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Israel over the coming years. He also began making recordings with RCA and would eventually sign contracts with EMI, Sony, Teldec, and others. Over the next three decades, his recordings would include the concertos of Beethoven, Brahms, Sibelius, Mendelssohn, Berg, the two by Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio, Dvorak's Sonatina, Paganini's Caprices, and many others. In 1966, Perlman married Toby Friedlander. The couple would reside in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where they would raise five children. Perlman had begun teaching as well, and in 1975 took a faculty post at Brooklyn College.
Perlman's fame grew rapidly in the 1970s and he began appearing regularly on television programs, like the children's show Sesame Street, The Tonight Show, David Letterman, and various specials on the PBS network. He also became a frequent performer at White House events, especially during the Reagan administration. In 1986, President Reagan awarded him a Medal of Liberty, an award recognizing the contributions of foreign-born Americans. By 1990 Perlman had performed with virtually every major orchestra in the world and with almost every important conductor. He also signed a new contract that year with EMI, the label for whom he has made the most recordings.
In 1994, Perlman hosted a program on the PBS network called the Three Tenors, Encore!, that featured the singing of Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, and José Carreras. He also made a television special in 1995 for the PBS Great Performances series entitled In the Fiddler's House. Perlman has recently taken up conducting, his concerts including a Tanglewood Festival performance in 2000 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra that included critically successful readings of the Mozart Symphony No. 29 and the Brahms Symphony No. 4.
In the twenty-first century, Perlman's career continues to yield him triumph after triumph, placing him among this age's top five or six musicians in the classical realm. Read less
Label: Sony
Catalog: 19439752272
Release Date: 08/07/2020
Number of Discs: 18
Composer:
Sergei Prokofiev,
Jean Sibelius,
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Antonín Dvorák
...
Performer:
Itzhak Perlman,
Vladimir Ashkenazy,
John Williams,
Lynn Harrell
...
Conductor:
Erich Leinsdorf,
André Previn,
Zubin Mehta,
John Williams
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Boston Symphony Orchestra,
London Symphony Orchestra,
New York Philharmonic
...
Recommendation
Label: Warner Classics
Catalog: 548472
Release Date: 07/31/2020
Number of Discs: 6
Composer:
Sergei Prokofiev,
Camille Saint-Saëns,
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov,
Gioachino Rossini
...
Performer:
Itzhak Perlman,
Katia Labčque,
Marielle Labčque,
Moura Lympany
...
Conductor:
Zubin Mehta,
Sir Neville Marriner,
Riccardo Muti,
Simon Rattle
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra,
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields,
Philharmonia Orchestra
...
Label: Sony
Catalog: 972425
Release Date: 07/03/2020
Number of Discs: 75
Composer:
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Henri Wieniawski,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Franz Joseph Haydn
...
Performer:
Isaac Stern,
Alexander Zakin,
Oscar Levant,
Marcel Tabuteau
...
Conductor:
Alexander Hilsberg,
Efrem Kurtz,
Isaac Stern,
Eugene Ormandy
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra,
New York Philharmonic,
Columbia String Orchestra
...
Label: Warner Classics
Catalog: 539882
Release Date: 12/13/2019
Number of Discs: 80
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Birgit Remmert,
Rudolf Schasching,
Robert Holl,
Peter Richards
...
Conductor:
Nikolaus Harnoncourt,
Bernard Haitink,
Daniel Barenboim,
Otto Klemperer
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Chamber Orchestra of Europe,
Arnold Schoenberg Choir,
Staatskapelle Dresden
...
Recommendation
Label: Sony
Catalog: 19075929282
Release Date: 05/24/2019
Number of Discs: 21
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Johannes Brahms,
Robert Schumann,
Richard Strauss
...
Performer:
Yo-Yo Ma,
Emanuel Ax,
Kim Young Uck,
Isaac Stern
...
Conductor:
Sir Colin Davis,
Peter Lieberson
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 4836318
Release Date: 04/05/2019
Number of Discs: 15
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Johannes Brahms,
César Franck
...
Performer:
Shlomo Mintz,
Yefim Bronfman,
Clifford Benson,
Clifford Benson
...
Conductor:
Giuseppe Sinopoli,
Claudio Abbado,
Zubin Mehta,
James Levine
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philharmonia Orchestra,
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra,
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
...
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 4798318
Release Date: 02/23/2018
Number of Discs: 5
Composer:
Antonio Vivaldi,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Modest Mussorgsky,
Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Isaac Stern,
Itzhak Perlman,
Nathan Milstein,
Georges Pludermacher
...
Conductor:
Zubin Mehta,
James Levine
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra,
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Label: Sony
Catalog: 88985393632
Release Date: 08/18/2017
Number of Discs: 46
Composer:
Alban Berg,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Carl Stamitz
...
Performer:
Daniel Barenboim,
Saschko Gawriloff,
Halina Lukomska,
Pinchas Zukerman
...
Conductor:
Pierre Boulez,
Daniel Barenboim,
Zubin Mehta
Orchestra/Ensemble:
BBC Symphony Orchestra,
English Chamber Orchestra,
New York Philharmonic
...
Label: Sony
Catalog: 88985370982
Release Date: 04/21/2017
Number of Discs: 6
Composer:
Antonio Vivaldi
Performer:
Pinchas Zukerman,
Neil Black,
Isaac Stern,
Itzhak Perlman
...
Conductor:
Pinchas Zukerman,
Zubin Mehta
Orchestra/Ensemble:
English Chamber Orchestra,
Los Angeles Philharmonic members,
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
...
Label: Euroarts
Catalog: 2970
Release Date: 01/13/2017
Number of Discs: 11
Composer:
Pierre Boulez,
Claude Debussy,
Manuel de Falla,
José Carli
...
Performer:
Elisabete Matos,
Kenneth Riegel,
Christine Schäfer,
Itzhak Perlman
Conductor:
Daniel Barenboim,
Leonard Bernstein,
Pierre Boulez,
Lorin Maazel
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
Boston Symphony Orchestra,
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
...
Label: Warner Classics
Catalog: 558505
Release Date: 12/02/2016
Number of Discs: 35
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Performer:
Daniel Barenboim,
Pinchas Zukerman,
Jacqueline Du Pré,
Itzhak Perlman
...
Conductor:
Daniel Barenboim
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Staatskapelle Orchestra,
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra,
Berlin State Opera Chorus
...
Composer:
Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Elena Bashkirova,
Maxim Vengerov,
Boris Pergamenschikow,
Daniel Barenboim
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Vienna String Sextet,
Takács String Quartet,
Berlin Soloists
...
Label: Decca
Catalog: 002576902
Release Date: 11/18/2016
Number of Discs: 3
Composer:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Josef Triebensee,
André Rieu
Performer:
Andras Schiff,
Barry Tuckwell,
Joshua Bell,
Erik Smith
...
Conductor:
Willi Boskovsky,
James Levine,
Sandor Végh,
Peter Maag
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Members of the Netherlands Wind Ensemble,
Amsterdam Mozart Players,
Vienna Mozart Ensemble
...
Label: Dg Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 002514302
Release Date: 07/22/2016
Number of Discs: 22
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Antonio Vivaldi,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Franz Schubert
...
Performer:
Pinchas Zukerman,
Midori,
Daniel Barenboim,
Marc Neikrug
...
Conductor:
Pinchas Zukerman,
Daniel Barenboim,
Charles Dutoit,
Pierre Boulez
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra,
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra,
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
...
Recommendation
Label: Sony
Catalog: 518338
Release Date: 05/06/2016
Number of Discs: 10
Composer:
Sergei Prokofiev,
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Antonín Dvorák,
Jean Sibelius
...
Performer:
Vladimir Ashkenazy,
Itzhak Perlman,
John Williams,
Pinchas Zukerman
...
Conductor:
Erich Leinsdorf
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Boston Symphony Orchestra,
Juilliard String Quartet