Perlman opens IU concert season

London music critic Andrew Porter wrote in The New Yorker that experiencing violinist Itzhak Perlman in performance is experiencing "everything one wants a violin sound to be." The late veteran musician Isaac Stern once described Perlman's talent as "utterly limitless." In 2003, upon granting the Kennedy Center Honor to Perlman, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts said "the world falls in love with music when Itzhak Perlman takes up his violin"\nIt's no surprise then that Doug Booher, director of the IU Auditorium, anxiously awaits Perlman's 8 p.m. performance Saturday at the IU Auditorium.\n"It's a perfect way to kick off our season. Perlman appeals to everyone," Booher said. "It allows both our students and our community to really hear the master of the violin." \nPerlman has performed with many major U.S. and international orchestras. In the last decade, he has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, the London Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and the Israel Philharmonic.\n"People have different notions about what classical music is, but hearing Mr. Perlman play is a transforming experience for everyone," Booher said.\nBorn in Israel in 1945, Perlman completed training at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv and then came to New York. Following studies at the Julliard School, he won the prestigious Leventritt International Competition in 1964, according to a press release biography from Sarah Pelch, a managerial associate for IMG Artists LLC.\nBooher said Perlman previously played the IU Auditorium in 1996. \n"Each time that I've seen him, I'm absolutely amazed at the way he's able to connect to the audience, the amount and the beauty of the sound he gets out of his instrument," he said.\nTentative planning has scheduled Perlman to perform some of his favorite pieces, and after an intermission, he will play a local premiere of a new piece, Booher said. But he made it clear that Perlman makes a strong connection with his audience and can alter the performance to pieces of which he feels the audience will be most perceptive.\n"No Perlman performance is exactly the same as the last one you see," Booher said. "He sees every audience as an opportunity to make a connection, and he crafts each performance for the audience."\nPerlman has received numerous accolades for his musical ability. He has won four Emmy awards, 15 Grammy awards, the Medal of Liberty from President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and the National Medal of the Arts from President Bill Clinton in 2000. He also cooperated with John Williams on the Academy Award-winning score for "Schindler's List."\nTickets are still on sale through Ticketmaster and the IU Auditorium. Orchestra seats are $49 for the public and $29 for students. Balcony seats are available to the public for $29 and $14 to students.\n-- Contact senior writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.