Itzhak Perlman says performing
for Obama ‘quite incredible’

By John Mark Rafacz

What did violinist Itzhak Perlman think of the enormous crowd and the atmosphere when he, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and two other musicians performed John Williams’ Air and Simple Gifts on the steps of the U.S. Capitol for President Barack Obama’s inauguration?

“It was pretty large and pretty cold,” he quips.

All kidding aside, Perlman, speaking by phone from Portland, Oregon—where he was guest conducting and performing with the Oregon Symphony—says he had never taken up the bow for an audience anywhere near the size of the one assembled on the mall in Washington, D.C., that crisp January day. Add in a worldwide TV audience, and it’s difficult to comprehend the number of people who watched Perlman and Ma play and Obama take the oath of office as the first African American president of the United States.

“When you think about it, the most exciting part of this experience in many, many ways was the news that we got that we were going to do it. That, to begin with, was just an amazing piece of news that we’re going to do this inauguration. Everything after that was sort of like a dream,” Perlman says. “To do something like this, to be involved in probably one of the most historically important events ever in the history of the United States—and the world, I suppose—was quite incredible.”

Perlman, Ma, and pianist Emanuel Ax are the focus of another incredible event—albeit one on a smaller scale—when the virtuosos perform together as a piano trio for the first time. The sold-out concert takes place at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 30, in Eisenhower Auditorium.

Perlman, who last mesmerized a sold-out audience at Eisenhower in an April 2008 recital with pianist Rohan De Silva, enjoys a superstar status not often associated with a classical musician. His remarkable musicianship is equaled by his humor and the joy with which he plays with leading orchestras, in recitals, and at major festivals.

The trio of world-renowned musicians celebrates Felix Mendelssohn’s 200th birthday with a program of two Mendelssohn trios and a sampling of the German composer’s Songs Without Words.

Perlman can’t invoke very enough when describing Mendelssohn’s winning characteristics. The composer’s works, he says,  are “melodically very, very sunny, very beautiful, technically very brilliant.” 

“The two trios,” he continues, “are just absolutely wonderful. They’re quite inspirational. [He’s] just one of those funny composers that is a pleasure to play.”

Mendelssohn wrote forty-eight Songs Without Words, so selecting seven of the short pieces for the concert is a tough task.

“They’re all so beautiful. I was already rehearsing a little bit with Emanuel Ax and I said, ‘Well, that’s nice.’ And then we did another one, and I said, ‘Well, that’s very nice, too.’ And so the question basically is to choose.”

Mendelssohn wrote the Songs Without Words for piano, but Perlman says the Penn State concert includes transcriptions for piano plus, in turn, violin and cello.

“Some stuff works better than others. There’s a couple that [violinist Jascha] Heifetz actually transcribed for violin and piano that are very, very beautiful, and they work well. So we’ll probably do one of those,” he says. “And then there’s a whole bunch of them that we have to choose from. But whatever works, that’s what we’re going to do. The basic goal here is to have us enjoy the piece in such a way so that the audience can enjoy it, as well.”

Ax, the only musician who performs on every piece in the March 30 concert, was proud that Obama’s swearing-in ceremony gave such visibility to Ma and Perlman.

“Obviously, Yo-Yo and Itzhak are great, great artists. As you can see they enjoy doing stuff together. They were at the inauguration. Everybody saw that,” Ax says. “It’s such a wonderful thing to have [had] those two people represented. I couldn’t have been happier, I must say.”

One of the Israeli-born violinist’s finest hours, besides the inauguration gig, came in his performance of another work by composer Williams—the violin solos for Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award-winning film Schindler’s List. He was also the violin soloist for Rob Marshall’s Memoirs of a Geisha, another movie for which Williams composed the score.

Perlman, who has earned more than a dozen Grammys, made his professional conducting debut in 1997 and has since guided ensembles on several continents.

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts recognized Perlman in 2003 for the violinist’s contributions to the cultural and educational vitality of America. President Clinton awarded Perlman the National Medal of Arts in 2000, while President Reagan bestowed upon him the Medal of Liberty in 1986.

The violinist earned the most recent of his four Emmy Awards for Fiddling for the Future, a PBS documentary about the Perlman Music Program based in Shelter Island, New York. Founded in 1995 by Perlman and his wife Toby, the program includes summer and winter sessions and primarily focuses on musicians ages 12 to 18. Perlman devotes considerable time to teaching students in the program. 

Perlman first visited the United States at age 13 to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1958. His fame and visibility are due, in part, to his comfort with the media. Perlman has long been a fixture on television, making appearances on programs as varied as Sesame Street, The Late Show with David Letterman, and Live from Lincoln Center.

“These days I’m doing three things. My musical activities are in three parts,” Perlman reports. “I’m doing my normal playing at recitals, and concertos, and things like that. And then I’m teaching. And then I’m conducting. Actually, I have a lot more variety in my musical life, which I’m very, very happy [about].”         

Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion featuring violinist James Lyon, professor of music at Penn State, is offered in Eisenhower Auditorium one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders. Artistic Viewpoints regularly fills to capacity. Seating is available on a first-arrival basis.

TIAA-CREF has joined with the Center for the Performing Arts as the exclusive corporate partner in support of the debut performance by the Ax-Pearlman-Ma trio.

 

Violinist Itzhak Perlman talks with PreViews Editor John Mark Rafacz about his affection for the works of Mendelssohn and the fun he has when he gets together with pianist Emanuel Ax and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Perlman also speaks about his experience playing with Ma at President Barack Obama’s inauguration. An excerpt of Mendelssohn’s Sweet Remembrance, Op. 19 No. 1, from the CD Itzhak Perlman’s Greatest Hits, enhances the podcast. The music is used with permission of EMI Classics (USA) © 1998.