Violinist Itzhak Perlman Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom

Israeli-born American violinist Itzhak Perlman has been chosen as one of 17 recipients of this year's Presidential Medal of Freedom, and was awarded the honor in a ceremony on November 24.

The awards celebrate important lifelong contributions to security, world peace, and the arts: President Obama described Perlman and other recipients from the cultural sphere as "artists who expanded our imaginations...enriched our lives and helped define our shared experience as Americans."

The accolade comes the year of Perlman's 70th birthday celebrations, which has seen his complete Warner Classics catalogue of iconic recordings released in a collectors' boxed set of his Complete Warner Recordings (see image below, available from B&T through our Titlesource platform).  He has dazzled generations of music-lovers in repertoire as diverse as Paganini's Caprices and soulful klezmer, collaborating with some of the greatest musicians of the last century - Daniel Barenboim, Yo-Yo Ma, Isaac Stern and André Previn - who Perlman counts among his closest friends.

The prize also acknowledges his contribution to the future of classical music and his generosity to young artists through his teaching activities at the Juilliard School in New York. In 1994, with his wife Toby, he founded the Perlman Music Program, an intensive summer school and mentoring program for talented young string players.