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Itzhak Perlman (Hebrew: יצחק פרלמן; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist, conductor, and instructor of master classes. He is generally regarded as one of the pre-eminent violinists of the 20th century.
Perlman was born in Tel Aviv, British Palestine, where he first became interested in the violin after hearing a classical music performance on the radio. He studied with Rivka Goldgart at the Shulamit Conservatory and at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv before moving to the United States to study at the Juilliard School with the great violin pedagogue, Ivan Galamian, and his assistant Dorothy DeLay.
Perlman contracted polio at the age of four. He made a good recovery, learning to walk with the use of crutches. Today, he generally uses crutches or an electric Amigo scooter for mobility and plays the violin while seated.