Itzhak Perlman

Biography Itzhak Perlman Itzhak Perlman was born in Tel Aviv and initially taught himself to play the violin. At the age of four, he contracted polio and has been disabled ever since. However, he continued to practice during his recovery and was subsequently admitted to the Tel Aviv Academy of Music. At ten, he gave his first solo concert. In 1958, he appeared twice on television in New York on the Ed Sullivan Show, after which he decided to stay in New York and study at the Juilliard School of Music. In 1963, he debuted at Carnegie Hall, and the following year he won the "Leventritt Memorial Award." In 1965, he toured his home country, and in the 1965/66 and 1966/67 seasons, he visited most major North American cities. In the 1967/68 season, he made significant debuts in Europe, including London and Paris, and since then, he has been recognized not only as the best violinist of his generation but also as one of the greatest musical talents to emerge in the second half of the 20th century. Perlman has given numerous chamber music concerts with colleagues such as Barenboim, Zukerman, Ashkenazy, Argerich, Bruno Canino, and Lynn Harrell. For many years, Perlman has been associated with the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, and he teaches at Brooklyn College, New York. In 1996, he was awarded the Gold Medal by the Royal Philharmonic Society in London. He plays the "Soil" Stradivarius from 1714. Over more than 30 years, Itzhak Perlman has built an extensive discography with EMI Classics, ranging from solo recitals and chamber music to the classics (and rarities) of concert literature. In 2003, EMI Classics released a comprehensive "Perlman Edition," which compiles all of the century-violinist's EMI recordings. In June 2004, a portrait of the charismatic musician also appeared in the new EMI Classics "Legend" series, which for the first time combines both CD and DVD media. On the occasion of his 60th birthday (August 2005), EMI Classics released a new DVD edition in June 2005 of one of the absolute highlights in Perlman's discography: the live recordings of Beethoven's and Brahms' violin concertos with the Berlin Philharmonic under Daniel Barenboim from the Schauspielhaus Berlin in 1992. Simultaneously, the award-winning documentary "Perlman in Russia" was released on double DVD. After the opening of the "Iron Curtain," Perlman undertook his first tour of Russia in 1990 for the 150th birthday of Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The DVD combines the live recording of a magnificent recital in Moscow (with pianist Janet Goodman Guggenheim and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta) as well as private snapshots. The film was honored in 1992 with one of the highest awards in the media world, the "Emmy Award for Outstanding Classical Programme." On November 24, Itzhak Perlman's now legendary recording "In the Fiddler's House – A journey to the heart of Klezmer" will finally be released on DVD. Perlman, whose ancestors are from Poland on his mother's side and Ukraine on his father's side, embarks on a journey into his own past: "More than with any other music I have recorded, I felt that it was my own music. Status: November 2006 Further information can be found at www.emiclassics.de EMI Classics Germany Press & Promotion – Stephanie Haase – Im Mediapark 8a, 50670 Köln Tel: 0221–4902–2428 Fax: 0221–4902–3428 e-mail: promoclassics@emimusic.de