When legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman made his BYU debut six years ago, it marked his first performance in Utah in a while — and became one of the university’s fastest-selling concerts in school history, the Deseret News previously reported.
“To me that says a lot about the health of the arts in Utah and the love of great classical music in Utah,” Kory Katseanes, who conducted the BYU Philharmonic during Perlman’s performance, told the Deseret News at the time. “This is a community that knows.”
Since that appearance at Brigham Young University, the 16-time Grammy winning violinist has kept Utah a part of his selective performance schedule.
Perlman returned to BYU for a rare two-night engagement in the fall of 2023, followed by a performance with the Utah Symphony at Abravanel Hall.
Now, the 80-year-old violinist is returning to Utah for his third trip in recent years — this time to make a debut at Utah Valley University.
Itzhak Perlman will perform at UVU
Utah Valley University recently announced that Perlman will headline the school’s 2026–27 Signature Series at the Noorda Center for the Performing Arts.
His performance on Feb. 15, 2027, will mark his first visit at the school, UVU confirmed with the Deseret News.
Perlman’s return to Utah — his third trip in seven years — is notable as the violinist has been more involved with music education for the past two decades, making his concert appearances more selective. Just a handful of concert dates are currently listed on his website.
The announcement comes just a few months after another classical music giant appeared at the UVU venue. In February, renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed in a packed concert hall that included 50 students from Orem Junior High School.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” 14-year-old Ben Gishi, who plays the cello, told the Deseret News roughly 20 minutes before Ma took the stage. “I honestly didn’t think I would ever see him, so it’s really cool that I get to see him, especially this early in my life.”
The full schedule for UVU’s 2026–27 Signature Series includes:
- Sept. 19 — “Glee” and Broadway star Matthew Morrison
- Oct. 2 — Conrad Tao and Caleb Teicher: Counterpoint
- Nov. 6 — Aida Cuevas: 50 Years Singing to Mexico
- Dec. 5 — Canadian Brass
- Jan. 7, 2027 — Ballet Hispanico New York
- Feb. 11, 2027 — Jazz at Lincoln Center Presents: World on a String Swinging Songs of Broadway with Kate Kortum and David Marino
- Feb, 15, 2027 — Perlman
- April 15, 2027 — Utah Symphony: Peter and the Wolf
- May 13, 2027 — Gravity and Other Myths: Ten Thousand Hours
For ticket information, visit uvu.edu.
A brief look at Itzhak Perlman’s performances in Utah
Although six years ago marked Perlman’s first time at BYU, the Israeli American violinist was no stranger to Utah. He performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle as a guest artist with the Utah Symphony in 1976 and 1978, as the Deseret News previously reported.
The violin virtuoso performed three times at Abravanel Hall throughout the 1980s and ’90s, and returned to the concert hall during the 2002 Winter Olympics.
For his BYU debut, Perlman performed the Beethoven Violin Concerto, one of his signature pieces, and received a standing ovation that lasted for 3 minutes and 40 seconds. During his 2023 performances at the school, he played the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto — which he performed as a 13-year-old on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1958.
During that same trip, he also performed to a full house at Abravanel Hall, the home of the Utah Symphony in Salt Lake City. The concert featured the music of John Williams, the composer behind the scores to the “Harry Potter,” “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” films, among others. The second half of that concert included Perlman performing the theme from “Schindler’s List,” which the violinist played on the film’s soundtrack 30 years ago.
“There’s only a few artists like this in a lifetime that come along that are this great,” Katseanes previously told the Deseret News. “You can play really well and you’d never sound like Perlman. Frankly, it’s a gift from God.”