Friday, February 26, 2010

Perlman

I got very little sleep last night. In addition to having a huge test today, I went out last night. Where, you ask?




Why, to see the famous Itzhak Perlman!

At the moment you are either thinking "WOW!" or you have a very confused look on your face. That's okay. None of my friends knew who he was either

He's one of the best violinists EVER! He was born in Israel, but I believe he now lives in the US.You can read more about his accomplishments here.

It was amazing. I had to leave at the intermission because it was late, and I had to study. We had front-row (as in the VERY FIRST ROW) seats, which was pretty cool. Howevere, they were at the very right edge of the stage (where the Cello section of the orchestra sits) and the violinists sit toward the left area of the stage. If they dropped a cello, it would've landed on me :P. After the first song (out of 3) they moved him and I could only see his foot from the angle I was sitting. I could hear him great though, and put my left ear on my music program for even better enjoyment (I thought having it on both ears would be a bit too much) Anyway, it was really cool. Not only did he play really well, but he conducted the rest of the orchestra during the songs he played! How awesome is that?!

There's another thing about Mr. Perlman. It's not the first thing many people mention it when talking about him, since it's irrelevant to what makes him so amazing. As a child, he contracted polio and now must use either crutches or a wheelchair to get around.  He used crutches at the performance I attended. He struggled to get on the platform which he had to perform on. After 5 minutes of him trying various methods of getting on the platform, and with the rest of the violin section looking quite nervous that he would fall, he made it in his seat. He turned to the audience, laughed, and gave a thumbs up.

I just love his attitude. He displays such intense emotion while he plays, you can see that he feels the music within.

I looked up some of his quotes, and stumbled upon this,
" Sometimes the wheelchairs don't arrive, the chairs are broken, or there's only one leg rest. There's an awful lot not being done. If we talk about it enough, someone will make it improve. "

I couldn't agree more, Mr. Perlman. I couldn't agree more.

5 comments:

  1. Oh!-- After that quote, he's going to be my new hero. I knew who he was and that he had had polio as a kid. It's wonderful you got to see him!

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  2. It sure was wonderful! He's my new hero too :)

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  3. Oh, you lucky dog, you! I saw him perform once when I was a teen. It would have been twice, except that I got the flu and couldn't make it to the performance -- worst flu timing ever. THE best violinist on the planet today, and yes I'm a big fan of Josh Bell, Gil Shaham, Hilary Hahn, etc., too, but none of them can take Ithak's place in my heart. I'm glad you got to go!

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  4. Julia- funny you should mention the bad flue timing.. I got the flu and literally recovered the day before the concert, thank heavens. I'm so mad at myself though.. we left a little bit early because it was late at night (and I had work to get done), but one of my orchestra friends was able to get his autograph! Maybe next time :) It was a great experience.

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  5. Wow. I spelled flu wrong. Guess I'd better get to sleep :P

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