Itzhak Perlman was born in 1945 in Tel Aviv as an only child. His parents were natives of Poland and emigrated to Palestine in the mid-1930s where they met. He began studying the violin at age 4. Perlman contracted polio at age 4 and has walked using leg braces and crutches since then. As of 2018 he uses an electric scooter for mobility. At Age 3 he was denied admission to the Music Conservatory because he was too small to hold a violin. He therefore taught himself how to play using a toy violin until he was old enough to study at the conservatory and at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. He gave his first recital at age 10.

He then moved to the United States to study at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian and his assistant Dorothy Delay. Perlman won the Levintritt competition in 1964 and went on to perform with every major orchestra and in concert halls around the world.

He has taught at Brooklyn College and for the past 20 years at the Juilliard School. He also teaches one-on-one at his music camp called the Perlman program on Long Island, New York.

The program was founded in 1993 by his wife Toby for exceptional string players between the ages of 12 and 18. He has also conducted throughout the world, especially with the Detroit Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, and the Westchester Philharmonic.

His Stradivarius violin was made in 1714 and had previously belonged to Yehudi Menuhin. He also plays the Guarneri Del Gesù, made in 1743, and the Carlo Bergonzi Ex Kreisler, made in 1740. Here he discusses his beloved Strad.

Perlman has recorded a magnificent album entitled Eternal Echoes: Songs & Dances for the Soul, a collaboration with the great cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot. While Perlman was never formally trained to play Klezmer, he recalled: “When I started to play, it took me about four or five seconds, and then I just felt at home.”

Perlman has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Frugal Gourmet, The Tonight Show and Sesame Street.

Amnon Weinstein is an Israeli violin craftsman who started locating violins that were played by Jews in the camps and ghettos of the Holocaust, painstakingly piecing them back together so they could be brought to life again on the concert stage. He calls these instruments the Violins of Hope. Inlaid in each violin is a Star of David in remembrance, so that the lives of those who played them will never be forgotten. Perlman played some of those violins privately.

Perlman played for Queen Elizabeth at the White House and performed at the first inauguration for President Obama. He was featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine, and has received 16 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, four Emmy Awards, the Medal of Liberty, the National Medal of Arts, the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Perlman has performed with the Israel Philharmonic in their first visits to Poland, Hungary, China, India, and the former Soviet Union. He has received honorary doctorate degrees from Harvard, Yale, Brandeis, Roosevelt, Yeshiva the Hebrew University and Juilliard. His devotion to the cause of the disabled is an integral part of his life.

The Genesis Prize recognizes and celebrates Jewish talent and achievement, honoring individuals for their accomplishments and commitment to Jewish values. Each year, the Genesis Prize winner chooses to forgo the 1 million dollar financial award and asks The Genesis Prize Foundation to support a philanthropic initiative that is personally meaningful.

Perlman has lived for many years in New York City with his wife Toby, who is also a classically trained violinist. They have five children: of the three daughters, one is a pianist, one is a social worker, and one is a teacher. As for the two sons, one is a pop singer and one is a lawyer.