good evening from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley, tonight we'll catch up with world famous violinist and conductor, itzhak perlman. he'll talk about his historic studio album with piano legend and upcoming trip to israel to conduct the philharmonic there and we'll find out how he's using a $3 million fund called the genesis prize to provide people with disabilities better access to classical music. glad you've joined us, itzhak perlman in just a moment.

and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you, thank you. always an honor to have itzhak perlman on this program. he's a 16-time grammy winner and the recipient of national awards from three u.s. presidents. he's just wrapping up a ten city west coast tour and head to israel in late march to conduct the philharmonic there. he joins us to talk about his music making and so much more, including becoming the third

genesis prize, congratulations on that mr. perlman, good to have you back on the set. >> thank you very much. nice to be here. >> let me start off with -- i didn't ask your permission to ask you this. i'm going to ask you anyway. >> you can't ask me, sorry. >> if you want to slap me, go ahead. so we all remember, so fondly and so beautifully your performance at the obama inauguration in 2009. so you know where i'm going with this, right. >> oh, i'm afraid i do. had you been asked to perform at the inauguration that had the greatest turnout of any inauguration in the country's history -- >> any. >> any. >> the greatest ever. >> had you been asked, would you have? >> no. but it's a moot point. i wasn't asked. but no, no, i couldn't. i couldn't do that. i couldn't do that. too many things against it. >> yeah. >> and besides, i don't know how cold was it?

>> i think it was colder for obama -- >> for the obama -- i'm not sure. >> incredibly cold. we have the chemical things for our fists. >> let me piggyback on that. i'm curious to get your take on this. you had a different level the most artist. what is the role of the artist in moments like these? because, the way paul once said that artists are the gate keepers of truth, what's the role, i think, the every important role of the artist is, in a moment like this -- >> well honest is to define society. i think. you know, without artists, our society is less. >> yeah. >> and this goes to the artist, it goes to the arts, the music and culture, it's all one package that helps us define who we are as a society. and the minute something happens

that is against that kind of artistry, and i think society suffers. so i think that we are suppose -- it suppose we can speak, i'm not sure that politics should be so connected, i'm not sure. i think that what we do should speak for itself, i think. you know, but -- but everybody has their own way of thinking about it, you know, some people like to express themselves more than others and so on. >> yeah. if you're right about the fact that the artists work in your case the artists music ought to speak for herself or himself, what do you hope your music has been saying to us all of these years? >> i hope my music brought beauty, but feeling of i suppose if things don't go well, i suppose a feeling of escape, you know, you see, you know, i mean one of the things that i always

think about is when israel was being attacked by all of that, you know, the concert halls were filled with people. they wanted to escape, hear some art, they wanted to hear some wonderful music and forget about what goes on. it's one way of looking at it. >> you headed back to israel not too long from now. >> yes. >> what is it about the nation, about the people, about their appreciation of art and what you do, what is it that has kept this relationship with israel -- >> first of all, i was born there. >> sure. >> so the relationship is, you know, it's my home country. >> there were folks who don't go back as often as you do. >> yes, i go back and conduct the orchestra. i do a lot of teaching -- >> yes. >> you know, we have this program that my wife started. not only do we do it in the states, but we also do it in israel.

>> so tell me more about the genesis prize. >> the giving back prize. >> yes, yes, yes, tell me more about that. what i said they like to call it the jewi isis isish nobel prize. >> what is it? they give you money in order to give it back. i said no, no, no, i give the money but i give it right back, not because i choose to but because i have to. absolutely. so it's a question of giving to charity, so now, what better thing can you imagine to be able

to give back to charity. my attitude is that i like to give to organizations that maybe i'm not the biggest organizations, but they have maybe smaller budget so that every little money, every little dollar really, really counts. and so that's what i'm doing. you know, it's a big work, you know, this prize is not just, oh, it's an honor, yes, it's an honor, but you have to work. i basically like to give to organizations that close to me which is music, and of course, problems will be disabled. so that's where we have been working on. either do one or the other or a combination of both. >> what's your assessment of how i want to say how much better we

have gotten as a society, as a global society. in access for treatment of regard for disabled persons? >> each zashlt is different. take me for example if i go to a hotel and the bathroom is, quote, code accessible, meaningless. you know, because sometimes, you know, they say you put a couple

of grab bars and it's accessible, not true. we have a lot more things, for me, a lot more education, especially for architects, for architects that deal with interior design and sometimes i think it's almost -- it's almost like they don't know what they're doing. so i'm, you know -- so i've been unhappy a lot and so i'm glad you ask me this question because there's a lot more work to be done. a lot more work. >> let me ask you a question that might be the dumbest question i've ever asked. i think, i hope you will at least take the point that i'm trying to get at here, which is, no one if they this h their druthers wouldn't come into the world with legs that don't operate. i get that. i'm sensitive to that. i wonder if there's been a particular advantage, a particular joy that has come your way over these years of living because it forced you to

reconsider, re-examine, approach life differently. the reality sets in from then until right now. >> uh-huh. >> so i'm doing what i have to do. things are difficult for me to move, difficult for me to get into places. and so, that's my life. you know, so, so, now -- and i try to make my life as easy as possible. so i used to walk on stage for my recitals, right now after i scooter, so i scoot myself, life

is really easy. it's great. so i work a little bit because i have to climb sometimes for the podium, that's more difficult, i do it. so, you know, i don't think about, you know, maybe this was better, maybe -- it's something that i have to deal with and something that i have to adjust. and a lot of people tell me about -- oh, isn't it heroic what you've been doing despite what you've done. not really. it's something -- we are not talking about the talent is there, if -- i've been lucky to be talented, so i can play the violin nicely. could be a good musician and a good teacher, and so on, but it has nothing to do with the fact that i can't walk. this is -- i always say, separate your abilities from your disabilities. and that's what i do. >> let me challenge you on that. i'm sure -- >> i'm sure you're going challenge me. >> you've given this body a lot longer than i have, you know

better than i do. i'm going press you on this, if you are that that we know you to be, if you didn't have this disability you're not just talented, you're brilliant. you're brilliant at this and you've worked really, really hard at it and i've asked this question myself relative, you think you would be as far aas long as as you are if you had not had this challenge. if i asked you the same question. i think i would. >> listen, in hindsight -- >> we don't know. >> now, would my parents maybe push me as hard, i don't know if they would or wouldn't when i was growing up. they were doing this -- what they did to despite my disability, they said you've got to practice. it wasn't like a question of oh the poor boy can't walk, so you don't have to practice more than half an hour a day. i have to practice three hours a

day, three hours a day. you went three hours a day is for an eight-year-old. and i could not wait to get rid of the three hours. you know, i would invent things. i would invent exercises that were -- that required thoughtlessness so that i wouldn't have to concentrate. so i would just actually go like this and look at clock until the hour passed, and then i was done. you know, i mean -- when it came to that, i was very, very normal. i hated it. i hated it. and you know, and the thing that kids hate practicing, you know, so it wasn't -- so despite all of this thing been i had to do that. >> yeah, yeah. >> you're just a fascinating person, i could spend hours and never get to the music, let's talk about the music. tell me about this tin city swing you've been on on the west coast. >> well, the nice thing about this is i could drive all the time instead of going on an airplane. >> airplanes, yeah. >> so that was nice.

it's, you know, i've been -- it's like a lot of recitals, last night i played a concert in santa barbara. and yet, are you familiar with it? >> uh-huh. >> we had such a great time. it was swinging, and the place was -- dancing in the aisles -- >> wow. >> so that's my thing. >> how much fun is it given what you tend to normally. >> you think of a lot of beethov beethoven, that's not what happens. >> as long as i do it and it's successful, then it's fun. i don't like to do things just because they are not usual. it's got to be usual. you know, it's got to be something, i've been, you know, i had it in my ear since i was a kid. i have a wonderful band and so, you know, it's nice to play with

drums and grass and stuff, and so -- >> wonderful cd in my hand. it's you, tell me about this project. >> it started off in many ways 20 years ago. and she's not a household name when it comes to that -- she's probably the greatest pianist, one of the greatest, ever, to play the piano, she's an amazing artist. she's just simply amazing. her sound, her colors, the most incredible technique you've ever heard, and so on. she'd been around, but, you know, she -- so, we had a recital 20 years ago and played three pieces and two were recorded and one was not. and m as we say in the record, it was in the can. and we were waiting for coupler. so 20 years later, we finally found a few things to couple.

so i went to paris and we sat down in the studio there, and we reco recorded the rest of the recordings. there's a recording here, the human si in a that, almost 20 years ago old and the rest is very new. so it's a combination. i'm so excited about it because i love making music with her. she is so great. >> when you hear this stuff in particular, what do you hear? when you come back and heard it again, what do you hear? >> i was pleasantly surprised. i actually liked it.

>> about hearing something from 20 years ago and on demand thinking that it doesn't measure up. >> do you hear some of your interviews, you said -- >> why didn't i ask that question? >> i feel that way about this 20 years from now. why did i not ask that stupid question? i'll feel that way in two decades. i'll take your point about listing the stuff from long ago and it may not measure up for you.

>> right now i listen to it and said i'm not going to flay. everery time i listen to these recordings, it's always good news, bad news. you know web the bad news is i hope it's not me. >> the good news is this person really plays well, i hope it is me. so it's always -- it was always a combination, but no, the thing is that the fact that i see that i can do something different today is a fact that i am constantly growing. and i feel that i can hear better. >> yeah. >> and my hearing is better. in other words, so that i can hear musically what i want to do, rather than really be involved so much in the actual playing, as i said to my students, it's more like talking. when you know thousand play the piece, it's time for you to talk the piece. >> i usually don't caught this way, i am mesmerized, i don't recall whether or not you said you loved, you still recording

music, or you love making music. and i'm zhag because making music, you could do that live. you make music live. >> you're supposed to make music whooechb you record it. >> what i'm trying to get is whether or not you love the recording of music still. >> oh. >> as opposed to the live stuff you do. >> i like it both. you don't want to be hypnotized by the studio and everything has to be just so and then all of the sudden, the music goes up -- >> is there a trick to making it sound live? to making it feel and sound live. >> it's all in your mind. >> it's all in your mind. you have to think about look, i don't to want think about the microphone, i just wanted to think about what i want to do with this phrase. what kind of colors do i want. and then, comes the, the

challenge of record producer to make you sound like you. sometimes the microphones depends object studio. that's a little bit of a challenge. that always has been. i always told him -- hear this, listen to me now, okay, i want to hear that. same thing on the record. >> yeah. >> given your druthers, are you the kind of person that wants to do one or two takes or you'll stay that all day, all night until you get it? >> well, it depends on my mood. i would like to get it right, you know, and you always say, oh, i could have done it better and so on. so you like to do maybe two, three, four, maybe five takes and so on and so forth, but basically, the ideal thing is to do one take that sounds absolutely great and just forget about it. >> all these years later, you still second guessing yourself about the first and second take? >> sometimes, you know, the thing about it is, once the vord ready for know listen to -- >> yeah. >> i always have a concept as to what it sounded like and then when i hear, i'm always

surprised because i didn't know that it sounded like that, you know, and it's very also very interesting when you hear the recording, right away, and then you let it the go for three or four weeks and then youer that again. totally different. different way of heari it. you say, oh my god, i thought it was horrible, but you know it sounds good. >> so you mention ld earlier, you're not just playing, you're teaching as well. >> yes. >> so i ask whether or not from your perspective classical music is in good hands or on shaky ground? >> i always say you are talking to the wrong person. >> okay. >> because i said to the music program and juliard school and so on, and i'm always confronted by the talent that's on today, so the talent today. so right now, we're in the middle of the process of choosing people for next summer for the program. so we get dvds from all over the world, and i listen to them.

and the level is very high. very, very high. >> uh-huh. >> and so, when you say -- when you asked me that, i'm saying you have the wrong person from my point of view, i know doom and gloom stuff, you know, as far as i'm concerned, things are really looking really, really well. >> it's also fair to say, the places you're seeing, you're getting the best of the best anyway. >> at the level. >> yeah. to you it would sound good. >> no, no -- yes, no, exactly. but the thing is the level is the indication of what goes on in the, in the classical music feel, you know, what kind of level it is. and it's high. e and there's a lot of competition because there's so much -- so many people who are good. so many people who are good. we have like this summer we're going to have four spots for four violinists which is a lot for us. usually we have one spot, two spots. and so, i've got like almost 100

applicants for four spots, who do you choose because there are so many people who are good. >> what's fascinating about that is, you know a little something, shotgun about having a major opportunity when you're young that give use major break, happened for you on the ed sullivan show. >> yes, yes. how do you floosz? when you are selecting these kids somebody's going get a chance, and somebody's not. >> i don't think about it that way, you see, i believe in quality. and the thing is these days when somebody is even slightly talented, they immediately get exposed. oh, that talent lived in a very small town and it was never an opportunity for him, on the contrary, you live in the small town, when you look at it, if you look at youtube, how many little kids do you see, everybody can make their own tape and put it on youtube.

not only can play well but have the spark and the passion. and you can tell that. you know, just by a phrase. doesn't have to be perfect, but you can tell, you know, somebody's playing like that and then says oh, this is something serious. it's worth it. and then, of course, it has to do with the age. if you listen to somebody who's 12 and 13, and the playing is not so -- not so perfect or anything, you need to know it's like fine wine, the new wine doesn't taste all that good, but five or six years, it'll be same thing with a talent. but, everybody has a different -- different timeline, and developed somebody is already developed at the age of 13 and somebody will be developed at the age of 17 or

18. it's all a schedule. it's a different schedule. >> so you had that and we have you too. >> yeah, exactly. >> my how things have changed. >> the most recent project from itzhak perlman, if you don't have it, add it -- >> it's good because even i like it. >> there you go. that's all you need to know. >> my pleasure. >> good to have you back. that's our show tonight, as always, keep the faith. >> visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. join me next time far conversation with architect extraordinary, frank gary about his upcoming online master class. that's next time. we'll see you then.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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