Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli-American violinist. He has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that have included a state dinner for Elizabeth II at the White House in 2007, and at the 2009 inauguration of Barack Obama. He has conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Westchester Philharmonic. In 2015, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Perlman has won 16 Grammy Awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and four Emmy Awards.
Perlman before playing The Star-Spangled Banner at Citi Field in New York City in 2016
Ed Sullivan congratulates 13-year-old Perlman after a concert (1958)
Perlman in 1984
Perlman at the White House in 2007
The violin, colloquially known as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino piccolo and the pochette, but these are virtually unused. Most violins have a hollow wooden body, and commonly have four strings, usually tuned in perfect fifths with notes G3, D4, A4, E5, and are most commonly played by drawing a bow across the strings. The violin can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato) and, in specialized cases, by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow.
The cupola of Madonna dei Miracoli in Saronno, Italy, with angels playing violin, viola, and cello, dates from 1535 and is one of the earliest depictions of the violin family.
1658 Baroque violin by Jacob Stainer
The construction of a violin
Closeup of a violin tailpiece, with a fleur-de-lis