McCoy Center To Host Free Screening Of Award-Winning Film, ITZHAK

In advance of Itzhak Perlman's upcoming in-person concert appearance, the McCoy Center for the Arts in New Albany will hold a FREE screening of ITZHAK: A Film by Alison Chernick, on Sunday, April 2 at 3 pm. This special presentation, utilizing the Mershad Digital Experience, provides an opportunity for audiences to learn more about the extraordinary life of this renowned musician.

Perlman's concert-scheduled for Wednesday, April 26 at 7:30 pm at the McCoy Center for the Arts-is a joint presentation by the McCoy Center and the New Albany Symphony Orchestra (NASO). Sponsored by Huntington, this one-night-only performance with NASO, conducted by Luis Biava, will include Higdon's blue cathedral, Brahms' Haydn Variations, and Beethoven's Violin Concerto. No concert tickets are available at this time, but updates on potential ticket releases may be posted on the McCoy and NASO social media accounts.

From Schubert to Strauss, Bach to Brahms, Mozart to...Billy Joel, Itzhak Perlman's violin playing transcends mere performance to evoke the celebrations and struggles of real life; "praying with the violin," says renowned Tel Aviv violinmaker Amnon Weinstein. Alison Chernick's enchanting documentary looks beyond the sublime musician to see the polio survivor whose parents emigrated from Poland to Israel, and the young man who struggled to be taken seriously as a music student when schools saw only his disability. Itzhak himself is funny, irreverent, and self-deprecating, and here his life story unspools in conversations with masterful musicians, family and friends, and most endearingly his devoted wife of 50 years. As charming and entrancing as the famous violinist himself, ITZHAK is a portrait of musical virtuosity seamlessly enclosed in warmth, humor, and above all, love.

Itzhak Perlman has performed around the globe throughout his career and has been honored with numerous awards for his musicianship. He has received 16 Grammy Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2008), four Emmy Awards, a Kennedy Center Honor (2003), and a Genesis Prize. In 2015, President Obama awarded Perlman with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. He has also been presented with a National Medal of Arts by President Clinton in 2000, and a Medal of Liberty from President Reagan in 1986. In addition to his artistry as a violinist, Perlman has taken on the role of conductor for numerous American and international orchestras, and as a speaker at many social engagements. He was the subject of the above-mentioned award-winning documentary, ITZHAK (2017), which detailed his struggles as a polio survivor and Jewish emigrant. Itzhak Perlman is a reminder to all that art is truly vital to life.