The Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition

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The Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition (EOIVC), a flagship program of the Elevar Foundation, was established by celebrated violinist, Elmar Oliveira, in collaboration with the Lynn University Conservatory of Music in Boca Raton, Florida in 2016. The EOIVC is deeply committed to its mission of providing talented violinists, ages 18-30, who are at the start of their careers, with networking, management, public relations, community engagement and concert opportunities in addition to a monetary prize. These long-term career development tools reach well beyond financial support, actively demonstrating the strong dedication of the EOIVC to cultivating and nurturing developing musicians as well as encouraging them to engage with the communities they serve.

The EOIVC takes place once every three years. The inaugural competition was held at Lynn University in January and February 2017. More than 225 talented young violinists have applied across the three previous competitions. Twenty-two-year-old American violinist Sirena Huang was the competition’s first prize winner in 2017, followed by nineteen-year-old American violinist Julian Rhee in 2020, and  Hina Khuong-Huu in 2023. Live streaming the EOIVC’s inaugural concerts received more than 1.5 million views across multiple social media platforms.

In addition to significant monetary prizes, instruments and bows have been furnished by some of today’s most revered luthiers, including Robert Ames, Luiz Amorim, Joseph Curtin, Feng Jiang, Eric Lane, Rodney Mohr, Jeffrey Phillips, Andrew Ryan, and John Young.  Additionally, a Musafia violin case was provided by Christopher Reuning of Reuning & Son Violin and a BAM travel violin case and bow tube were provided by Barnesviolins LLC.

EOIVC jurists are selected personally by Elmar Oliveira for their unequivocal support for the development of young musicians. Past juries have included many of today’s most esteemed violinists such as Andrés Cárdenes (2017, 2020, Chairman of the Jury 2023), Charles Castleman (2017), David Cerone (Chairman of the Jury 2020 alternate jurist in 2023), Scott Flavin (2023), Alexander Gilman (2017), Gudny Gudmundsdottir (2017), Daniel Heifetz (Chairman of the Jury, 2017), Ilya Kaler (2017, 2020, 2023 and 2026), Ida Kavafian (2023), Sung-Ju Lee (2020), Silvia Marcovici (2020), Irina Muresanu (2023), Gerardo Ribeiro (2020), Barry Shiffman (2020, 2023), Almita Vamos (2023), Vera Tsu Wei-ling (2017), Kathleen Winkler (2020) and Peter Zazofsky (2023).

Known as a passionate advocate for the music of our time, Elmar Oliveira has made commissioning new works an important part of each competition. In 2017, the EOIVC commissioned Thomas McKinley to write Dialogues and in 2020 Christopher Theofanidis was commissioned to write Discipline and Transcendence. Both artists served as Composer-in-Residence at each competition, respectively. EOIVC 2023 highlighted four contemporary composer during its quarter-final round. These composers were: Jessie Montgomery, Gabriela Lena Frank, Christopher Theofanidis, and Thomas McKinley. Due to the ongoing pandemic, there was no Composer-in-Residence for 2023. 

Demonstrating the EOIVC’s deep commitment to serving the community, all EOIVC 2020 finalists were required to participate in the Community Engagement Round. To date, the EOIVC is the only competition of its kind to host community engagement as part of its competitive process. Due to the ongoing pandemic, EOIVC 2023 did not have a community engagement round as part of its two-week competitive process, however plans are currently being developed to ensure that this important staple of the EOIVC’s philosophy is continued in subsequent competitions.​