Itzhak Perlman is a legend in his own lifetime, one of today’s greatest violinists and the recipient this week of a Lifetime Achievement Award from Gramophone Magazine. But now he has a surprising new role: lockdown hero. Through this bizarre year he has popped up on social media in a series of brief videos, telling jokes and playing short solo pieces. No wonder he’s clocked up more than six million views: he makes us laugh, cry and feel less alone. In many ways, he has been doing that all his life. When he beams into my Zoom screen, his image is so familiar that the only surprise is that I can actually speak to him.
