A Conversation with Violinist Itzhak Perlman

June 26, 2025, 12:16 AM · Beyond his lifetime achievements and place of honor in the world of classical music, superstar violinist Itzhak Perlman, 79, is known for...well, his comic delivery.

Violinist Itzhak Perlman and Symposium Artistic Director Brian Lewis at Paul Hall on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, his Q & A with participants in the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies sometimes seemed like a stand-up routine, keeping everyone laughing with his stories about Dorothy DeLay, Jascha Heifetz, Leonard Bernstein and more.

However, when Symposium Artistic Director Brian Lewis asked him what he hoped for his students, Perlman's answer was straight as an arrow: "I hope they have a happy life in music," he said. "I hope they never get bored. I hope if they play a piece three or four or more times, it's never the same twice."

Symposium participants had submitted questions in advance for the great violinist, and Lewis used those questions to interview Perlman from the stage at the Juilliard School's Paul Hall. When he asked Perlman what kind of violin he played on these days, Perlman said "a Notoni!" with such straight delivery that it really took a moment for everyone to get the joke - a No-tone-i - HAH!

Perlman actually plays the 1714 "Soil" (pronounced "Swall") Stradivari once owned by Yehudi Menuhin.

"We were lucky, those days, with a little loan you could acquire a fantastic Italian instrument," he said. Or a pretty great French one - he remembers the New York violin dealer Jacque Francais selling a Viullaume violin for $1,000, back in the day.

Before acquiring the Strad, Perlman did play on a Guarneri del Gesù violin (while Strads fetch millions these days, del Gesùs fetch even more millions, because they are more rare).

"The del Gesù is slightly darker, and you can press into it and it will take it," Perlman said. "With a Strad you have to relax and let the sound out. "

Perlman was born in Israel and he came to the United States for the first time in 1958 - to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show.

"It was an amazing show - a true variety show," Perlman said. Sullivan would have monkeys on tight ropes, then Baryshnikov dancing, puppeteers, the Beatles, Elvis, opera singers, Michael Rabin...

"I was a veteran on his show - I appeared six times," Perlman said. "He was a real gentleman."

Perlman pointed out that the year 1958 was also when he met Dorothy DeLay. Though she was to become one of the most in-demand violin teachers of the 20th century, at the time was an assistant for the also-great violin pedagogue Ivan Galamian, at Juilliard.

"All I heard was how phenomenal Galamian was," Perlman said, and so he wanted to study with him. Instead of coming himself, Galamian sent Ms. DeLay to hear Perlman at his hotel in New York (while he was there for the Ed Sullivan Show). She wore her black lamb coat with a brown collar, and he remembers that "she exuded the feeling of being very nice, sweet and supportive."

Back in Israel, he had a very strict teacher, who made cutting comments: "It's terrible, out of tune, no good!"

By contrast, if he played out of tune for Ms. DeLay, she would say, "Sugar Plum, what is your concept of G sharp?" then perhaps have a long conversation about various violinists and their ideas of expressive intonation.

The teacher back in Israel always told him what to do, but Ms. DeLay "would always make me think," Perlman said.

Lewis asked, what advice from Ms. DeLay (both Lewis and Perlman still call their former teacher 'Ms. DeLay') still resonates for him today?

What resonates for him is the way she taught - "it is the way I now teach," he said. He involves the students in their learning. "They play, and the first thing I say is, 'So what did you think?' Usually they come up with some great solutions."

Perlman said he is reluctant to demonstrate for students. "If you play, they can imitate very well," he said. "But it may not work for them tomorrow. It's best if they can figure it out on their own. If you figure it out, then you own it."

Perlman is known for playing the beautiful violin theme in the soundtrack for the movie Schindler's List, and one participant asked him, what was his reaction, the first time he played the music?

"The reaction was quite emotional," Perlman said.

The movie tells the true story of businessman Oskar Schindler, who saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.

Perlman said that the first time he saw the movie was during the recording session for the soundtrack with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Williams, who wrote the score. There was a huge screen, showing the film, with beeps of light to keep the music in time with the film, so Perlman was simultaneously performing for the soundtrack while seeing it, with director Steven Spielberg there in the audience.

Since that time, "the 'Theme from Schindler's List' is the only thing that people specifically ask me to play," Perlman said. "It's very simple, but it conveys a lot of emotion."

What is Perlman's advice for violinists who struggle with comparing themselves to others?

"Don't!" Perlman said.

"That's a bad idea," he said. "Just do the best you can," and keep the blinders on. "Everybody develops at different tempos. To compare is a mistake."

Practice slowly and focus on your own progress.

How much should you practice?

Not seven or eight hours - this gets to a point of diminishing returns. Perlman compared it to putting a sponge into a bowl of water. "After a while, it won't absorb any more water."

Ideally, practice no more than four or five hours a day, and those should be 50-minute hours, taking 10 minutes of rest.

"Never practice with pain!" Perlman said. "That can be really harmful. It's a warning sign that you've got to relax."

How does he keep things fresh, after playing certain pieces for a lifetime?

"It's refrigerated," Perlman deadpanned. But seriously, "you concentrate on the music and let the music speak to you. It also helps when you teach these pieces."

How do you know if a student is great?

"If they make you weep," he said. "If you feel emotionally transported when they play." And when a harmony transitions - sometimes their feelings about the music show on their face.

He also advised against "playing defensively," that is, playing "not to miss." "You have to be secure enough to be free to express the music.

He also talked about the Perlman Music Program, a summer program founded by him and his wife Toby Perlman that takes place on Shelter Island. They do a lot of practicing, have chamber music, and all sing in a chorus.

"The level of playing right now has never been higher," Perlman said. "It's phenomenal."

Does Perlman ever experience nervousness?

"We all have a problem with nerves," Perlman said. You don't get rid of them, you learn to live with them. You get familiar with them by playing under pressure frequently.

Lewis asked, "Do you believe in nature or nurture?"

"I believe in both!" he said, although he does think there are a few small things that can't be taught. Ms. DeLay, he said, felt you could teach anything.

He talked about the many conductors he has worked with, and it read like a list of the most famous conductors of the 20th century: Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Sir Georg Solti, Riccardo Muti, Leonard Bernstein. He admired the fact that Bernstein was never afraid to show how he felt. The same was true for the great cellist Jacqueline du Pre: "Whatever she was feeling, you knew!"

Perlman said he used to have listening parties to listen to recordings of Heifetz, Kreisler, Milstein, Menuhin, Oistrakh, Stern and Elman.

He famously played for Jascha Heifetz, who was only impressed when, having played Lalo and Paganini for him, Perlman was able to play scales on command.

Later in life, Perlman "had a 55 minute date with Heifetz every time I went to Los Angeles," he said. Heifetz came to two of Perlman's concerts. When Heifetz came to see him in his dressing room after the concert "there was a path, the parting of the Dead Sea, and in walked God."

Once he was testing out a violin and asked Heifetz to come to a rehearsal to hear it. Heifetz could not come but said "I wish you a very bad rehearsal. A bad rehearsal means a good performance."

Heifetz did come to the performance, and when Perlman asked him about the violin, Heifetz said, "It's a very good violin - but it's the violinist that makes it sound good."

That comment didn't just make his day, Perlman said, "It made my next 10 years!"

Catherine Cho Itzhak Perlman Brian Lewis

Violinist Itzhak Perlman with symposium artistic advisor Catherine Cho and symposium artistic director Brian Lewis.

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Replies

Diana Skinner

June 26, 2025 at 01:07 PM · "What is your concept of G sharp?" That made my day!

Loren Abramson

June 26, 2025 at 01:58 PM · Thanks Laurie for your reports from Starling-Delay. I haven’t been able to attend for a few years but so enjoy reading your insights. “Sugar plum and your concept of G#, I loved hearing Itzhak’s stories!!