Itzhak Perlman Quotes

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Itzhak Perlman

Profession : Musician

Birth : August 31, 1945

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.

Itzhak Perlman

My oldest daughter is a pianist; she plays concerts. We play together, also.

Itzhak Perlman

When you live in a small country such as Israel, the dream of any musician is to go abroad.

Itzhak Perlman

I think that music has to do with what kind of passion do you have.

Itzhak Perlman

I'm an acoustical person.

Itzhak Perlman

I have just one fiddle. It works, and that's it. It has been an old friend.

Itzhak Perlman

To bring a large audience to a piece of serious music and make it accessible does not mean reducing it in any way. And I've learned that if something is good, even if it is a little difficult, people will get that it is good.

Itzhak Perlman

I've been lucky to conduct the very best orchestras in the world: New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Berlin, the London Philharmonic.

Itzhak Perlman

If you can read, then you can recite Shakespeare. But that's not acting.

Itzhak Perlman

Believe me, I've had interviews where the person says, 'So when did you start and why? What about your parents?' I say to them, 'Please, have you heard of the word 'Google?'

Itzhak Perlman

A lot of society tries to put people with disabilities into one cube, and when you think about it, many, many people have different types of disabilities, and you cannot put a code that applies to towards everyone - generally, they can be guidelines, but in the long run, interior designers and architects need more education on the subject.

Itzhak Perlman

The thing about talent is that it comes at different ages, sometimes at a very early age. That's when I find it to be the most challenging.

Itzhak Perlman

An amazing gift in a young child is, in some ways, an abnormality.

Itzhak Perlman

A talented child will have a schedule that is horrendous. You get up and practice, go to school, practice some more, eat dinner, and then you have homework.

Itzhak Perlman

I met my wife in music camp. She's got great ears, and we have a relationship where she's not afraid to tell me anything. If something's going on in my playing, she will tell me about it, and that's very, very important.

Itzhak Perlman

I am an eternal optimist. I always say 'Yihyeh Tov' or 'It'll get better.'

Itzhak Perlman

When I was growing up in Israel, Cantorial music was something I heard over and over on the radio, so it wasn't at all strange to me. I was very familiar with the music.

Itzhak Perlman

'Kol Nidrei' is probably the most important prayer in the Jewish religion. It comes on the evening of Yom Kippur. There are so many different renditions of it.

Itzhak Perlman

Israel is the country of my birth. When I come here, I feel I'm coming home.

Itzhak Perlman

I actually wanted to play the violin before I had polio, and then afterwards, there was no reason not to.

Itzhak Perlman