Itzhak Perlman (born 1945) is accepted and celebrated by many as one of the greatest classical violinists of the twentieth century. Overcoming polio and its crippling effects, Perlman was a distinguished musician in his native Israel prior to entering his teens. He travels around the world performing and teaming with other great musicians and he has brought a new style, individuality and technical ability to classical music and the violin.

Itzhak Perlman was born on August 31, 1945 in Tel Aviv, then the largest city in Palestine (a few years later it became the nation of Israel) to Chaim and Shoshana Perlman. His parents, both natives of Poland, had immigrated to Palestine in the mid-1930s before meeting and marrying. Perlman had wanted to be a violinist after hearing a concert performed on the radio when he was a mere three-years-old. His father worked as a barber and bought his young...