Itzhak Perlman helped the 2017 Israel Philharmonic Orchestra tour get off to a brilliant start last week in New York as a sold-out crowd at Carnegie Hall.

Itzhak Perlman was joined by Pinchas Zukerman, for a special evening featuring an all-Mozart program. Maestro Mehta recently announced that he will be stepping down from his post as Music Director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in October 2019, marking 51 years of making music together. This one-night-only performance saluted his notable legacy and celebrates his extraordinary achievements as Music Director for Life.

We applaud Maestro Zubin Mehta on this tour that celebrates his unprecedented 50 years conducting this orchestra.

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) proudly hosts Itzhak Perlman with pianist Daniil Trifonov in an all-romantic program from Tuesday, May 19 to Wednesday, May 27, 2015 in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, Israel.

“It’s not like playing with any orchestra, it’s like playing with family,” says Itzhak Perlman on performing with the IPO.

Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov has made a spectacular ascent to classical music stardom since winning First Prize of both the Tchaikovsky and Rubinstein competitions at the age of 20, and has since appeared worldwide with major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

“My dear dear friend Ivry Gitlis is gone. He was a virtuoso violinist, a true individual, and a larger than life personality. For more than 50 years I was lucky to be his friend. I shall miss you Ivry,” tweeted Itzhak Perlman on Twitter today.

As one of the modern greats of classical music, Ivry Gitlis not only performed with the best orchestras in the world but never stopped experimenting, seeking new fans far beyond the elite.

Ivry Gitlis was as comfortable playing with the Rolling Stones or jazzman Stephane Grapelli, with African storytellers or gypsies, as he was with classical repertoire.

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This past Wednesday Gramophone Magazine honored Itzhak Perlman with the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Talk of a ‘Lifetime Achievement’ has a finality about it, but the vital spark that is Itzhak Perlman shows no sign of dimming. As I write, he is celebrating his 75th birthday, yet in a recent interview he cheerfully told the Chicago Tribune: ‘I’m not thinking 75. When I pick up the violin, and I start playing, I say to myself: “Oh, 75 is pretty good. Things are still working!”’

He has been honoured by three American presidents – even playing ‘live’ at Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration (the performance was actually pre-recorded due to the cold weather) – and an Israeli prime minister. His recordings have garnered innumerable awards. His videos have won four Emmys. He has had three of the costliest fiddles at his disposal, by Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesù and Bergonzi.

Yet over and above this worldly success, he ranks among the great humanists of the string-playing sphere, alongside such names as Busch, Casals, Oistrakh Snr and Szigeti. He has too ready a sense of humour to be a saint or a high priest: still, he has borne bodily affliction with grace and dignity and has been both a role model and a spokesman for disabled people.

We British encountered Perlman in the late 1960s as one of a golden generation with Pinchas Zukerman, Jacqueline du Pré, Daniel Barenboim, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Zubin Mehta. Amid all the banter preserved on Christopher Nupen’s films, a quiet authority about his playing marked him out even in that company.

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