Perlman was born on August 31, 1945, in Tel Aviv.<ref name="auto" /> His parents, Chaim and Shoshana Perlman, were Jewish natives of Poland and had independently emigrated to Mandatory Palestine in the mid-1930s before they met and later married. Perlman contracted polio at age four and has walked using leg braces and crutches since then<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and plays the violin while seated. Template:As of, he uses crutches or an electric scooter for mobility.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
When Perlman was three years old, he sat and listened attentively to a violin recital on the radio, which inspired him to become a violinist. His mother soon bought him a toy violin, and he quickly taught himself to play melodies. His parents tried to enroll him at the Shulamit Conservatory, but he was denied admission for being too small to hold a violin.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Despite his handicap, he began learning the violin a year later. His first teacher was a café violinist. At age five, Perlman was admitted to the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv (now the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music), where he studied for eight years with Rivka Goldgart, a violin teacher of Russian origin, and gave his first recital at age ten.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> He moved to the United States at age 13 to study violin at the Juilliard School in New York City and the Meadowmount School of Music in Essex County, New York,<ref name="AmMstrs"/> with Ivan Galamian and his assistant Dorothy DeLay.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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With the Zionist Organization of America's sponsorship, Perlman began touring cities in the U.S. and Canada as a soloist, and quickly established himself as a leading virtuoso.<ref name="auto"/> He made his Carnegie Hall debut performing Wieniawski's Concerto in 1963 and won the Leventritt Competition in 1964.<ref name="AmMstrs"/> From 1964 to 1966, Perlman embarked on his first notable concert tour in the United States, performed in 30 cities, including Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Denver, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Haven, Seattle, and St. Louis.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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Starting in the late 1960s, Perlman began to tour Europe. He debuted with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1968, performing Tchaikovky's Concerto under the direction of André Previn.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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On July 5, 1986, Perlman performed at the New York Philharmonic's tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, which was televised live on ABC. The orchestra, conducted by Mehta, performed in Central Park.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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While primarily a solo artist, Perlman has performed with a number of other musicians, including Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, Jessye Norman, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Isaac Stern, and Yuri Temirkanov at the 150th anniversary celebration of Tchaikovsky in Leningrad in December 1990. As well as playing and recording the classical music for which he is best known, Perlman has also played jazz, including an album made with jazz pianist Oscar Peterson; klezmer; and bluegrass music.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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Perlman played at the state dinner attended by Queen Elizabeth II on May 7, 2007, in the East Room at the White House.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>
He performed John Williams's "Air and Simple Gifts" at the 2009 inauguration ceremony for Barack Obama along with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Gabriela Montero, and clarinetist Anthony McGill. The quartet played live, but the music played simultaneously over speakers and on television was a recording made two days earlier due to concerns that the cold weather could damage the instruments. Perlman was quoted as saying: "It would have been a disaster if we had done it any other way."<ref>Quartet pre-recorded Obama music. BBC News (January 23, 2009).</ref>
On November 2, 2018, Perlman reprised the 60th anniversary of his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show as a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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Teaching
In 1975, Perlman accepted a faculty post at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College.<ref name="Winship">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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The Perlman Music Program
The Perlman Music Program, founded in 1994 by Perlman's wife, Toby Perlman, and Suki Sandler, started as a summer camp for exceptional string musicians between the ages of 12 and 18.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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Instruments
Perlman plays the Soil Stradivarius violin of 1714, formerly owned by Yehudi Menuhin and considered one of the finest violins made during Stradivari's "golden period".<ref name="Winship" /><ref name="cozio" /> Perlman also plays the Guarneri del Gesù 1743 'Sauret'.<ref name="cozio">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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Personal life
Perlman lives in New York City with his wife, Toby, also a classically trained violinist. They met as students and married in 1967. They have five children, including Navah Perlman, a concert pianist and chamber musician.<ref name="Winship" /> Perlman is a distant cousin of the Canadian comic and television personality Howie Mandel.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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Discography
Perlman has recorded music in many genres.<ref name="Allmusic">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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From 1960s
Prokofieff: Concerto No. 2 in G Minor / Sibelius: Concerto in D Minor (RCA Victor, 1967)
Franck: Sonata for Violin & Piano (Vladimir Ashkenazy) in A Major / Brahms: Trio for Violin, Horn (Barry Tuckwell) and Piano in E flat Major (London Records, 1969)<ref name="Haylock">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
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