A biography for Itzhak Perlmanhasn’t been written yet.
“When you live in a small country such as Israel, the dream of any musician is to go abroad.”
“Life is always full of challenges. I believe you're never happy unless you're consistently making challenges for yourself.”
“That makes classical music work, the ability to improvise.”
“Child prodigy is a curse because you've got all those terrible possibilities.”
“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.”
“Architects have to become more aware of exactly what is involved in designing barrier-free buildings and homes.”
“I can tell you that many soloists probably wish they could sit.”
“The 'Mozart Symphony No. 27' is an early composition. I find it charming.”
“The danger in playing a piece over and over again lies in getting stuck in a rut where you don't ask questions anymore and you always play it the same way.”
“Another thing that I don't like to do is show too much how it goes. I do it once in a blue moon. Sometimes there are lessons when I don't pick up a violin at all.”
“When I came to the United States, I appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show as a 13-year-old, and I played a Mendelssohn Concerto, and it sounded like a talented 13-year-old with a lot of promise. But it did not sound like a finished product.”
“My message is that giving is very important. Giving is a Jewish thing, and I like to talk about that. There's nothing more important, personally, for anybody than being able to give.”
“I'm a great sports fan, you know. I love to watch tennis and basketball and baseball and so on.”
“I've been lucky to conduct the very best orchestras in the world: New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Berlin, the London Philharmonic.”
“For people who are really talented, what you don't say becomes extremely important. You have to judge what to say and what to leave alone so you can let the talent develop.”
“In the musician, there is a tendency to have a narrowness. It's all compartmentalized. I am playing the violin; that's all I know, nothing else, no education, no nothing. You just practice every day.”
“I always find that there is a real communication between voice and violin.”
“Trust your ability!”
“There are people who are uncanny, who are finished products at a young age. I wasn't, thank God.”
“One of the most important elements in teaching, conducting, and performing, all three, is listening.”