Perlman’s 1st O.C. Recital : Music: The beloved Israeli-American violinist will take Center stage Monday.

Whether he’s performing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto at the Hollywood Bowl or singing “Put Down the Ducky” on the television show “Sesame Street,” Itzhak Perlman continues to dazzle new audiences in new settings, wherever he can find them. For example, two recent trips to the Soviet Union have introduced the Israeli-American violinist to an entire nation of new, enthusiastic listeners.

“Before, I could never get into the country,” Perlman, 45, commented about his recent performances in Moscow and Leningrad. “Now, they can’t get enough of me there.”

Speaking of new settings, Perlman plays his first Orange County recital Monday at the Performing Arts Center. (A story in OC Live! on Thursday incorrectly described the performance as his Orange County debut.)

Sponsored by the Orange County Philharmonic Society, the recital will include violin sonatas by Mozart, K. 525, Prokofiev, Opus 80, and Grieg, Opus 45, No. 3, to be performed with pianist Janet Goodman Guggenheim. Although he has appeared in the county several times with orchestras, Perlman, asked to recall his concert debut here, admitted that his memory doesn’t serve him very well.

“The first few years of your career, you remember these things so clearly,” he said in a recent telephone conversation from his home in New York. “But later, you tend to get things mixed up. I try to do as little as possible when it comes to keeping track of this or that.”

Perhaps it’s Perlman’s happy-go-lucky attitude that keeps his remarkable talent fresh and vital over the years, though some critics have quibbled that he plays too many classical favorites over and over instead of concentrating on lesser-known works.

At the end of World War II, Perlman’s Polish parents moved to Tel Aviv, where he was born shortly after. Stricken at age 4 by poliomyelitis, he lost the use of his legs and to this day must walk on crutches.

In 1959, at the age of 14, Perlman appeared on the Ed Sullivan show, an event portending his overwhelming success with American audiences. Five years later, after studying at Juilliard with Ivan Galamian and Dorothy Delay, his Carnegie Hall debut launched a long and especially active career of performance and recording.

His numerous television appearances--on credit card commercials, “The Tonight Show” and “Sesame Street”--have helped give him a special place in American popular culture.

“Many people who watch a lot of television feel uncomfortable around classical musicians because there is this misconception that we are stiff and completely dedicated to our art--that there is this wall around us,” he said.

“I believe television has really helped the arts because it allows people to see us as we really are. Especially my appearances on ‘Sesame Street,’ which has had an incredible impact. I love kids. And more than any other cross-section of television viewers, they are the ones who are showing up at my concerts because they saw me on TV.”

Unlike the majority of today’s classical artists, Perlman’s duties--with the exception of his wife and five children--remain almost entirely on the stage. Outside of an occasional master class, he has no regular students .

“Just the same, I don’t like to teach master classes at all--it’s better one on one,” he explained. “As a teacher I don’t look for problems, I wait for problems. In master classes, that’s hard to do because you tend to do and say things conscious that the audience is there. The student becomes very nervous, and it’s very nerve-racking.”

Violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianist Janet Goodman Guggenheim will play works by Mozart, Prokofiev and Grieg Monday at 8 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tickets: limited number of $40 stage seats are still available. Presented by the Orange County Philharmonic Society. Information: (714) 646-6277.