An Evening with Itzhak Perlman

Itzhak Perlman plays the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Tuesday, January 26, 2027, at 7:30 PM. It's presented by the Oregon Symphony as part of its Special Concerts series, though the orchestra itself doesn't perform—this is a chamber setting, Perlman on violin with his longtime pianist and friend Rohan De Silva.

It's not a standard recital. The evening is a multimedia program curated by Tony Award-winning director Dan Sullivan and produced by Elliott Forrest, and it's designed to show the man behind the music. Perlman's own storytelling is woven through the night, paired with personal photos and clips from the GRAMMY-nominated documentary Itzhak. The music comes in between, with Perlman and De Silva playing together. If you've only ever known him as a name on a record, this is the kind of show that fills in the gaps.

Perlman's story is a big part of that. Born in Jaffa in 1945, he contracted polio at age four and generally uses crutches for mobility, playing the violin while seated. He studied at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv and at the Juilliard School under Ivan Galamian and Dorothy DeLay, made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1963, and played on the Oscar-winning score of Schindler's List. He plays the Soil Stradivarius, has begun to conduct, and with his wife Toby founded the Perlman Music Program in Shelter Island, New York. Much of that history is what the storytelling and documentary clips will touch on.

So, the night is built around Perlman talking about his life, with photos and film to back it up, and music with Rohan De Silva to hold it all together. It starts at 7:30 PM at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Tuesday, January 26.