Virginia Arts Festival Presents Itzhak Perlman With Virginia Symphony Orchestra

Undeniably the reigning virtuoso of the violin, Itzhak Perlman enjoys superstar status rarely afforded a classical musician. In this eagerly anticipated return engagement at the Virginia Arts Festival, Mr. Perlman will perform moving and beautiful music from famous film scores with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by JoAnn Falletta, on April 13 at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts in Virginia Beach.

Itzhak Perlman has performed for major film scores including his unforgettable, emotional rendition of the theme from Schindler's List, as well as other films including Fantasia 2000 and Memoirs of a Geisha. In this Virginia Arts Festival performance, he will play these themes as well as music from Sabrina, Cinema Paradiso, Scent of a Woman, Out of Africa, Far and Away, The Adventures of Robin Hood (193?), and As Time Goes By from Casablanca. Critics have called Mr. Perlman's interpretations of film scores "unforgettable...embodying true Hollywood romanticism... played with vulnerability and love, sweeping concertgoers away to faraway places" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

Born in Israel in 1945, Itzhak Perlman first showed interest in music as a toddler growing up in Tel Aviv. He began his studies at the Shulamit Conservatory and at the Academy of Music, giving his first public recital at age 10. When he was 13, he was invited to appear on one of early television's most popular shows, The Ed Sullivan Show, where an audience of millions discovered the gifts of this great violinist. Since then, he has performed with the world's great orchestras as both soloist and conductor; he has created a legacy of recordings, garnering 15 Grammy Awards as well as the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; and he has

been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, National Medal of the Arts, and the Kennedy Center Honors. A major presence in the performing arts on television, Mr. Perlman has also been honored with four Emmy Awards.

Tickets for Virginia Arts Festival's presentation of Itzhak Perlman and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra range in price from $59-$125 and may be purchased online at www.vafest.org, by phone at 757-282-2822 or by visiting the Virginia Arts Festival box office located at 440 Bank Street in Norfolk between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday-Friday.

About the Virginia Arts Festival

Since 1997, the Virginia Arts Festival has transformed the cultural scene in southeastern Virginia, presenting great performers from around the world to local audiences and making this historic, recreation-rich region a cultural destination for visitors from across the United States and around the world. The Festival has presented numerous U.S. and regional premieres, and regularly commissions new works of music, dance, and theater from some of today's most influential composers, choreographers and playwrights. The Festival's arts education programs reach tens of thousands of area schoolchildren each year through student matinees, in-school performances, artists' residencies, master classes and demonstrations.