In this interview I did with Itzhak Perlman for The Strad’s Violin Heroes supplement in 2009, he remembered and analysed the violinists who had influenced him growing up, starting with – who else? – Jascha Heifetz. Like many people, I’m sure, as a child I listened obsessively to Perlman LPs, especially his Bruch G minor Concerto and his encore pieces, and I’m sure my love of the violin, as well as the ideal of sound and style I hold in my ear, are directly thanks to him. In t

While I’ve been researching my article on violinists who’ve crossed musical borderlines, for Sinfini Music, I found myself debating with myself (a bad habit). What gives violin stars the right to pick up another genre? Of course there’s no such thing as rights when it comes to music, but there is a certain sense of appropriateness (or appropriation). I wouldn’t go on stage at the Festival Hall and play the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto if I didn’t have complete control of the n

I came across this lovely film while on my research into classical artists who have explored other genres. It's beautiful to watch the interaction as Perlman meets these klezmer musicians for the first time. At this point he's only been learning about klezmer for a couple of weeks, and at first he makes awkward jokes about playing classical repertoire, including a joke about his Strad ('When he made this fiddle did he ever imagine it would play klezmer?'). He looks pretty unc