Zukerman was born in
Tel Aviv, to Jewish parents and
Holocaust survivors Yehuda and Miriam Lieberman Zukerman. He began his musical studies at age four, on the
recorder. His father then taught him to play the
clarinet and then the
violin at age eight. Early studies were at the Samuel Rubin Academy of Music (now the
Buchmann-Mehta School of Music).
Isaac Stern and
Pablo Casals learned of Zukerman's violin talent during a 1962 visit to Israel. Later that year, Zukerman moved to the United States to study at the
Juilliard School under Stern and
Ivan Galamian. He made his New York City performance debut in 1963. In 1967, he shared the
Leventritt Prize with Korean violinist
Kyung-wha Chung. His 1969 debut recordings—of the concerti by Tchaikovsky (with the
London Symphony Orchestra conducted by
Antal Dorati) and Mendelssohn (with the
New York Philharmonic conducted by
Leonard Bernstein)—launched a successful recording career of over 110 releases. Zukerman launched his conducting career in 1970 with the
English Chamber Orchestra, and served as director of London's South Bank Festival from 1971 to 1974. In the US, Zukerman was music director of the
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra from 1980 to 1987. He later directed the summer festivals of the
Dallas Symphony Orchestra (1991–95) and the
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (1996–99). In 1998, he became Music Director of Canada's
National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO) in
Ottawa, where he was reported to have polarized the orchestra members and required
facilitator intervention. Zukerman took a sudden leave in mid-December 2005 with Forsynth, before returning in 2006, at which point his contract was extended through 2011. He stepped down from the post for the final time in 2015. He has served as Principal Guest Conductor of the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra since 2009. Zukerman is on the faculty at the
Manhattan School of Music and is the leader and founder of the Zukerman Performance Program at the school. His former students include
Koh Gabriel Kameda,
Julian Rachlin, and
Guy Braunstein. In 1999 he founded the
National Arts Centre Young Artists Programme, which counts young musicians such as
Viviane Hagner,
Jessica Linnebach, and
Antal Szalai as alumni. In 2006 Zukerman began his involvement in the Rolex Artistic Mentorship programme. In 2021, in a virtual
masterclass hosted by
the Juilliard School, Zukerman angered many musicians, students, and teachers by reinforcing racial and cultural stereotypes. He told two sisters of half Japanese descent that they were playing too perfectly and needed to add more "soy sauce" to their playing, and said that they needed to play more lyrically and that people in Korea and Japan do not sing. He later explained, "It's not in their DNA." Juilliard decided to not release the video for further viewing. Zukerman has apologized for his "culturally insensitive" comments and said he will do better in the future. The
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra subsequently dropped Zukerman from their 2022 concert. Zukerman plays the "Dushkin"
Guarneri del Gesù violin of 1742. His honors include the
King Solomon Award, the
National Medal of Arts (presented by President Reagan in 1983), the Isaac Stern Award for Artistic Excellence, and an honorary doctorate from
Brown University. ==Personal life==