“Music brings everybody together”: Violinist Itzhak Perlman explains the magic of music
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Masterful violinist Itzhak Perlman was born in Israel and has been playing the violin since the age of three. He is well known for his brilliant virtuoso technique and has had his music featured in iconic films such as the Disney movie </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fantastia 2000 </span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">as well as </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Schnidler’s List</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Perlman has also won 16 Grammy awards for his achievements in music.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He recently spoke to </span><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/article-music-brings-everybody-together-violinist-itzhak-perlman-on-musics/"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><em>The Globe and Mail</em></span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> about how music has a way of bringing people together and how many of us need music more than ever in this difficult political climate.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I always felt that music brings everybody together, because music is really an international language,” he explained.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“No matter where you go – whether you go to the Middle East or you go to the Far East or countries that have a strained relationship between each other – and you see that there was a cultural exchange, it’s like a barometer; you feel that relations improve.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Music is always the first thing that brings you a signal that relationships are starting to improve,” he continued.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It brings people together. When you go to a concert hall and you listen to a Beethoven symphony, you are no longer in a country that listens to this or that or [is dealing with whatever] problems. It binds everybody together.”</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;"><a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Buw-s8vhtZ8/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">@theperlmanmusicprogram does outreach at the Dreyfoos Public School in Palm Beach, FL.</a></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Perlman also explained how he distances himself from emotionally charged pieces, as one of his more popular pieces features in the film </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Schnidler’s List</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">. The film is about a man who saved more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees from the Holocaust by employing them in his factories during World War II.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I think about it as the piece [of music]. I try not to think about what it’s associated with. At the beginning, when I first saw the film and then I associated the music with what was happening with the film, it was a very emotional experience,” Perlman said. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“But the more I play it, the more I concentrate on the music itself. Of course what happens in the movie is an organic part of the piece.”</span></p>
