The Cincinnati Post du lieu suivant : Cincinnati, Ohio • 13

j-inside accent on entertainment The POSt Thursday May IX 1912 Itzhak Perlman: more than a virtuoso By James Chute Peat Sun Stperut I URN ON the television and you might see him chatting with Phil Donahue talking with Johnny Carson or performing with Zubin Mehta Most record stores prominently display his likeness as his many recordlnp are consistently among the classical bestsellers Only Pavarotti equals the five records he now has on list of the top 40 classical LPs His name on an symphony orchestra season or on a community concert series dramatically Increases subscriptions and sells out concerts The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestral best-attended concert pair this season will be the Friday and Saturday concerts In Music Hall Saturday night Is completely sold out and about 10 obstructed-vlew seats remain for Friday The soloist will be violinist Itzhak Perlman would be easy to forget what It Is all said Perlman In a recent telephone conversation from a hotel room In Cleveland "But In my case the more exposure I get the more I remind myself that I am here to do the best I can with my music and whatever extra activity I do which is not musical I do basically for fun- "If I do a Jazz recording I do It for fun not a Jass fiddler And If I do a commercial on television not Into professionally making commercials I do It for fun If I do a talk show I like to talk so I do It for that "The fact I am here because I try to be as good a as I can Is something I feel Is very Important and I cannot forget that And the more quote success I have In the media the more I remind myself that the final point of this whole thing Is my ERHAP8 THE odds he has overcome have enabled Perlman to put Into perspective the enormous attention and acclaim he has gamed over the past several years He was stricken with polio when he was 4 years old Although the disease affected his he still walks with crutches and performs sitting It was unable to dampen hlssplrlt Just going to Imitate It all over the That stops you from growing And the most Important thing In music Is to keep -growing all the Perlman holds essentially the same viewpoint about recordings He views them as a documentation of a performance of the moment rather than as a timeless statement about a piece of music "Sometimes people expect the same nuances and the same musical Ideas on a recording as when they come to a he said "And thank Qod that never happens Because recording Is a record of a particular time You cannot reduplicate It In concert If you did I think you would be good as an artist You would Just Imitate nuance per nuance what you had already Combined with his natural spontaneity Perlman has an extraordinary ability to communicate to luring people Into' the musical experience have a combination of two things when you play for an said Perlman got to do Justice to a composer and you have to In- volve the audience In what you are trying to da "Actually there Is a third thing No matter what you da some of your own Individuality Is always going to be there You ask just to do what Is on the written page What you play Is a very Individual business But you try and really do musically what you feel Is right and yet have enough communication with the audience to let them In on It rather than doing It In the privacy of your own PLAYING Is not the only way he reaches out to people Although he says he does the talk shows Tor he has a more serious commitment to helping the handicapped He has performed and spoken In numerous hospitals and Institutions providing an example of how a handicap can be another challenge to be overcome rather than a barrier to a normal and successful life In Cincinnati he Is lending his support to Total Living Concepts a non-profit organization developing housing and support See PERLMAN Page 6B "I have never been tempted to give said Perlman "The reason Is It never occurred to me And that was because of my parents Maybe they felt I should give up but they did not broadcast It to me And as far as I was concerned all I had to do was practice because I was talented and that had nothing to do with the fact I had polio or anything like that he continued "I see a lot of people who believe I could accomplish what I have accomplished Just because of the life the traveling and the moving from place to place and so on But I guess I proved them Raised In Israel Perlman first came to public attention In America In 1868 when at age 13 he performed on the Ed Sullivan show He subsequently toured with the Ed Sullivan Caravan of Stars and stayed In the United States enrolling at the Jullllard School By 1864 he had won the Leventrltt Competition several years later after a triumphant return to Israel he was already considered among the top rank of Internationally acclaimed solo violinists ERLMAN HOWEVER has developed Into something more than a virtuoso Through his numerous television appearances he has emerged as a public figure-a personality as much as a musician "That whole situation you cannot study In said 1 Perlman I always feel that Is very unfortunate But again I feel had good Judgment A couple of years back I did two or three television shows In a row and I thought I was going to go out of my mind Bo I Just said this Is It not doing anything else for a It's like my body had Its own limit as to how much you can do and how much you da So you say to yourself "I do that with concerts too very very Important to say no particularly when 214 years' In advance When you have your schedule and you have two or three concerts that week In 1885 you have to have the foresight to say 'Well in 1885 I think that when I have played three concerts that week I will not want to play two So you have to say no things to he said Is something you have to work at You have to try and look for new things In old works and make sure every performance Is really like an experience of the moment a spontaneous experience "Obviously much easier for me to do If I do the same piece over and over Symphony to the standard 18th-century repertoire "Since the beginning of my career I have not been associated with one particular said Perlman "8a a result It makes It so much more convenient for me because not stuck with playing the same pieces over and over and over again I can have a lot more fun that way because I can really do "I remember once I went to Europe and I had seven concerts with seven different orchestras and before I realized It I was doing seven different concertl It was kind of frightening when you thought about It but it certainly was The varied repertoire helps Perlman keep his playing fresh one of the most difficult SPONTANEITY 4s among the most basic aspects of playing always want to have a different approach a different point of he said "There Is more than one way to get to the same goal And that Is what you try to da One of the worst things to do Is repeat yourself Like saying got something good going and Springfest: spreading the word on Cincinnati "Unfortunately I learned It through bad experiences through Instances In which when the time comes for those concerts you say to yourself did I agree to that? And then you make little notes In your head and you say That will be the last time I agree to such a You learn from Some ARTISTS ease the burden of an excruciating concert schedule by limiting their repertoire to only a few pieces or even to a single concerto other soloists base their reputation on a particular style Interests however are wide-ranging from the Earl Kim concerto he premiered with the New York Philharmonic and will record with the Boston Chamber Orchestra free concert Saturday In Eden Park In PROMOTING the event Plnger sent Information about the festival and the city to roughly 1000 travel brokers and newspapers nationwide He personally blitzed radio stations and travel agents In Indianapolis Columbus Dayton Louisville Lexington and Huntington and Charleston Va The festival was also promoted In national appearances by Captain Cincinnati BUI Bogart costumed as a rlverboat captain toured Chicago Detroit and Canada to promote Cincinnati as a stopoff on the way to visiting the Fair According to Plnger he and Captain Cincinnati gained 37 radio Interviews 24 appearances on television stations and numerous articles In travel pages Including articles In the New York Times and the New York Times News Service and a full-page spread In Cleveland Lake County Journal The Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau reports It has received more than 3000 calls from as far away as Miami about the festival HE CONCEPT for a Cincinnati arts festival dates back at least to Bobble Sterne tenure as mayor In the late '70s when she formed a tourism committee that discussed the festival Idea Ray Canaday former marketing director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra put together the framework for an American Music Festival but was unable to get the project off the boards before he left the CSO In late 1881 Slttenfeld said the Institute of Fine Arts has for many years been for a festival and he views the concept as a means for arts to give aomethlnf bock Reveling in the uncommon arts and cultural opportunities offered by the Queen City Is among the favorite pastimes of many Cincinnatians "For marvels Dan Plnger of Lawler-Bal-lard Advertising "there Is more to do here than any place In the The quality of life and cultural opportunities offered by Cincinnati however apparently are little known past the fringes Beyond the Reds and the Bengals much of what the city has to offer has remained a secret outside of ClndnnatL "Part of me part of all of us would like to keep those things a said Jim Tarbell proprietor of Bar and Grill as a matter of practicality we have to open it up a little time to show what got to said Susan Stanley group executive for administration of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce people think of Cincinnati as a well-kept secret and they might feel If the secret gets out It could be ruined But I think we cap stand to spread the word a little Spreading the word is among the primary goals of first annual Springfest opening tomorrow at noon on Fountain Square "Outside the 200-mlle limit Cincinnati has only a vague said Plnger who Is handling marketing and promotion for the 10-day festl-vaL "Springfest has given us a news peg to get to the people outside that 200-mlle limit and tell them there are many things to do and see In Springfest Is wrapped around two of Cincinnati most venerable Institutions The festival The Jacket Sundress in Misses' and Half Sizes The sun shines and from beneath a matching jacket a two-color sundress in an attractive polyester shantung weave White top is trimmed in cord that matches the skirt and jacket which has contrasting white collar Patent-look belt Misses' sizes 10-11 in navy or black Half sizes VAllYt in navy only McAIpm's rniiMt' mad half urn Jraww al itam a phone 152-4211 Bill Bogart as Captain Cincinnati promotes Springfest formance by Itzhak Perlman It closes with the May Festival first weekend of performances In between the Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts has coordinated about 150 events ranging from walking tours to art exhibitions and opera performances Unlike a festival such as the Spoleto Festival In Charleston where performers and performing resources are Imported rather than homegrown the concept of at least the first year of Springfest Is to highlight Cincinnati own cultural resources not so much a producing festival as a showcase of activities already said Paul Slttenfeld president of the Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts and vice president of the Springfest Committee Many organizations simply scheduled already planned events to be Included as part of the festival Some programming how- ever was pul together 4 a si- i- v'afc -tf 'j i V- A W' i i ft af I'--'- 1 i trv be emi.