Perelstein, a choir conductor, pedagogue, honorary professor of the Lithuanian Academy of Music (now the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre) (1994), the founder of the legendary boys' choir "Ąžuoliukas" (Lithuanian: Little Oak Tree), was born on 7 June, 1923. From an early age, Herman revealed exceptional musical abilities. From 1936 he attended the Kaunas Conservatoire and studied with the best music teachers of the time. In June 1941, the Perelstein family was deported by the Soviet authorities, his father was later shot, and his mother died in Siberia. In 1956, Perelstein returned to Lithuania and settled in Vilnius. In 1959, he founded the boys' choir "Ąžuoliukas" at the Republican Teachers' House in Vilnius, which he directed until 1979. In 1979, he emigrated to the United States, worked as a teacher and lecturer at a university until 1992, and for three years directed a boys' choir in New York. He was a member of the Cultural Council of the Lithuanian-American community. Perelstein died on 11 January, 1998.