Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlmanis an Israeli-American violinist, conductor, and pedagogue. Over the course of his career, Perlman has performed worldwide, and throughout the United States, in venues that have included a State Dinner at the White House honoring Queen Elizabeth II, and a Presidential Inauguration, and he has conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the Westchester Philharmonic. In 2015, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom...
NationalityIsraeli
ProfessionViolinist
Date of Birth31 August 1945
CityTel Aviv, Israel
CountryIsrael
Itzhak Perlman quotes about
I don't walk on stage unless I'm playing with a orchestra. But when I play a recital, I'm sort of on a scooter, and I just scoot very quickly on stage, and they're saying, wow, look at this. He's so fast.
The thing is that what you try to do when you play is you try to play not below a certain level. In other words, it can be a special day where it would be phenomenal, but if it's not below a certain level, that's the goal. You know, that's what you want to do. That's why you practice and so on.
When you play a concerto with a small orchestra, you don't feel it is as important as Carnegie Hall. You try to work out all the little problems. Once that's all done, trust comes in.
I'm just a one-instrument player. I have been known to play a blender, but I basically play - just play the violin.
The Violin of my dreams. If you wanna play a pianissimo that is almost inaudible and yet it carries through a hall that seats 3,000 people, there's your Strad.
If you play something well, I don't care what it is. I mean, I don't play an electric [violin] - I tried. It's actually interesting.
I can't walk very well, but I'm not onstage to do walking. I'm on the stage to play.
I listen to kids play a lot.
I always say separate your abilities from your disabilities. You know, if I could play the violin, I don't have to play it standing up. I can play it sitting down and so on.
Don't play the way it goes. Play the way it is. And the way it is every time you play it, it's slightly different. Look for something. So that's the challenge not to be bored.
You get more nervous in front of a lot of people. That's why, when you play a concerto, you play with a small orchestra, in some place where you don't feel that it is as important as Carnegie Hall.
They were very nice. It's so loud that it's a little hard to hear, so I just introduced them to my daughter.
He was a giant in this century, as a violinist, musician, personality within the musical world. He was a real singular, individual human being, charismatic, and of course the most phenomenal child prodigy that ever existed, certainly in this century.
There are people who are uncanny, who are finished products at a young age. I wasn't, thank God.