World-famous violinist Itzak Perlman will make a three-week tour of Shanghai from August 8-28 and hold classes for Chinese violinists during that time.

His classes will be held at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. The Conservatory will select 32 promising young Chinese violin, viola and cello players to attend.

Perlman will also bring to Shanghai another 32 musical prodigies he has chosen himself from around the world -- all below 18 years of age -- to teach alongside the young Chinese players.

Sources at the Shanghai Conservatory said that all violin, viola and cello learners who were born after August 7, 1983 could audition for the class.

All applicants should submit a 15-minute video recording which reflects their artistic level, together with letters of recommendation and any certificates they have.

During his tour which is jointly sponsored by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Grand Theater and Shanghai TV Station, Perlman will give four concerts in the Shanghai Grand Theater.

Another 12 musicians and teachers including Paul Katz, cello professor with the New England Conservatory of Music and twice a Grammy award winner, and Heidi Castlemen, viola professor with the Julilliard School, will also visit Shanghai at that time.

Perlman, an Israeli, was crippled at age 4 by poliomyelitis but never gave up playing the violin. His perseverance brought him to the Tel Aviv Conservatory of Music in 1955 and later made him a popular violinist.

(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2002)