Itzhak Perlman (born August 31, 1945) (in Jaffa, now part of Tel Aviv) is an Israeli virtuoso violinist and teacher. He is regarded as one of the greatest violinists of the late 20th century, and is certainly among the most famous. He began to study in Tel Aviv after hearing the violin being played on the radio. During 1987, he joined the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) for their concerts in Warsaw and Budapest, as well as other Eastern bloc countries. ...show more

Itzhak Perlman (born August 31, 1945) (in Jaffa, now part of Tel Aviv) is an Israeli virtuoso violinist and teacher. He is regarded as one of the greatest violinists of the late 20th century, and is certainly among the most famous. He began to study in Tel Aviv after hearing the violin being played on the radio. During 1987, he joined the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) for their concerts in Warsaw and Budapest, as well as other Eastern bloc countries.

He toured with the IPO in the spring of 1990 for their first-ever performance in the USSR, with concerts in Moscow and Leningrad, and toured with the IPO again in 1994, performing in China and India. Perlman contracted polio at the age of four. He made a good recovery, learning to walk with the use of crutches. Today, he generally uses crutches for mobility and plays the violin while seated.

There is a popular story that, instead of getting up in the middle of a concert to replace a broken string on his violin, he finished the concert with only three strings. However, the story is likely to be an urban legend. Perlman studied at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv before moving to the United States to study at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian and Dorothy DeLay. He made his debut at Carnegie Hall in 1963. ...show less