Elmar Oliveira
Founder & Artistic Director
Elmar Oliveira is an American violinist whose remarkable combination of impeccable artistry and old- world elegance sets him apart as one of our most celebrated living artists. Oliveira remains the first and only American violinist to win the Gold Medal at Moscow's prestigious Tchaikovsky International Competition. He was the first violinist to receive the coveted Avery Fisher Prize and won First Prize at the Naumburg International Competition.
Son of Portuguese immigrants, Oliveira was nine when he began studying the violin with his brother, John Oliveira and then attended the Hartt College of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. He holds honorary doctorates from both the Manhattan School of Music and Binghamton University. In 1997, the
Prime Minister of Portugal awarded Elmar the country's highest civilian accolade, The Order of Santiago.
Oliveira has performed regularly at many of the most prestigious international concert venues. He has appeared with the esteemed Symphony Orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Colorado, Detroit, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Seattle, as well as the Philharmonics of Helsinki, London, Los Angeles, New York, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus and Zürich Tonhalle, among many others. He has also made extensive recital tours of North and South America, Australia, New Zealand and the Far East.
Oliveira’s discography on Artek, Angel, SONY Masterworks, Vox, Delos, IMP, Naxos, Ondine, and Melodiya ranges widely from Bach and Vivaldi to contemporary works that are swiftly becoming pillars of the violin repertoire. His best-selling recording of the Rautavaara Violin Concerto with the Helsinki Philharmonic won a Cannes Classical Award and was chosen as Gramophone's “Editor's Choice”. He also received Grammy nominations for his recordings of both the Barber Concerto with Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony and the Bloch and Benjamin Lees Violin Concertos under the baton of John McGlaughlin Williams.
Other recording highlights include the Brahms and Saint-Saëns violin concertos with Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony, the Joachim Violin Concerto with the London Philharmonic, the complete Brahms sonatas with pianist Jorge Federico Osorio, and the rarely heard Respighi and Pizzetti sonatas with pianist Robert Koenig.
Two projects of particular historical significance: The Miracle Makers: Stradivari • Guarneri • Oliveira, a coffee-table sized book and three-CD set which compares and contrasts thirty exquisite violins by Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù; and a release of short pieces highlighting the Library of Congress Collection of rare violins on Biddulph Recordings, speak to Oliveira’s extreme dedication to preserving and highlighting the violin and critical makers of the past as well as those that are important to the development of the instrument today.
In 2016 Elmar Oliveira announced the creation of the Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition. This competition—that takes place every three years—is open to any violinist of any nationality between the ages of 16-32 and offers critical career support in the form of artist management and public relations as well as cash prizes. The Inaugural competition took place at the Lynn Conservatory of Music, where Elmar Oliveira is Distinguished Artist-in-Residence, January 23 – February 5, 2017. The next competition will be held in January 2023.
Additionally, Elmar Oliveira has founded the John Oliveira String Competition, an internal competition at the Lynn Conservatory of Music. The annual competition is open to all string students at the school. The competition was also founded in 2016 in memory of Elmar Oliveira’s late brother, violinist John Oliveira. For more information, please visit www.john-oliveira.com.
Oliveira is passionate about expanding the role and repertoire of the violin as well as championing contemporary music and unjustly neglected works. He is a devoted teacher and promoter of young artists, and also keenly supports the art of contemporary violin and bow making.
Photo ©Tucker Densley
Jill Arbetter
Executive Director
As a violinist and artist manager with more than 20 years experience Jill Arbetter brings her vast knowledge of the performing arts and passion for supporting the next generation of artists to the Elmar Oliveira International Competition.
Jill has performed as a violinist with the Bamberger Symphoniker, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Symphoniker, the New World Symphony of Miami, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Staatsoper Berlin, Zurich Opera, and others. As a chamber musician, Jill has collaborated with world renowned musicians such as Guy Braunstein, Alban Gerhardt, Leonidas Kavakos, and Nikolaj Znaider, and has participated in noted festivals, including Switzerland’s Davos Festival
and the Yellowbarn Music Festival in the US. Other notable appearances include CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kurault and the Lifetime Achievement Awards at The Kennedy Center, where she performed for President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan, and honoree, the esteemed violinist, Yehudi Menuhin.
As owner of Arbetter Artists, a vibrant artist-management agency, she represented many leading conductors and instrumentalists. In this role, she has presented many international tours and recording projects for the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Belgrade Philharmonic, the Budapest Concert Orchestra, and for numerous other orchestras throughout Europe.
Adding to her expertise as a performer and artist manager, Jill served as the Director of the Fine Musical Instruments department at Skinner, Inc. in Boston for over three years. In this role, Jill focused on liaising with string players, teachers, and students worldwide.
Jill received degrees in violin performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and the Mannes College of Music, and was also a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center.
Photo ©Cheryl Richards
Aaron Kula
Community Engagement Artist Liaison
A nationally recognized conductor, educator, composer, accordionist, and producer, Aaron Kula was appointed Community Engagement Artist Liaison for the Elevar Foundation for the 2024-25 season, focusing on bringing music performances to the communities with limited access to live music. Mr. Kula was awarded a Fulbright Music Specialist grant in 2018 by the U.S. State Department to Israel with appearances at the U.S. Embassy and Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and in the Negev and Galilee. In May 2018 the United States Congress awarded Mr. Kula a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for his “outstanding and invaluable service to the community” in the field of music. Mr. Kula is managing director of Kula Concert Productions, music director of Klezmer Company Jazz Orchestra (KCJO), Broadway in Concert, Sinfoneitta Society, and Kultur Festival. His conducting credits include serving on the faculty at New England Conservatory of Music, Chautauqua Music School (NY), Boston Ballet,
Miami City Ballet, Boston Conservatory, Santa Fe Symphony, Erie Ballet (PA), among others. A faculty member of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton from 1997 to 2020, he led multi-genre performances and taught academic music courses. Mr. Kula's interdisciplinary career led him to form the award-winning, genre bending Klezmer Company Jazz Orchestra in 1997. Mr. Kula’s 2009 world jazz album “Beyond The Tribes” was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the Copyright Acquisitions Division. He has toured internationally with performances in Israel, International Tes Fest in Romania, and Ashkenaz Festival in Toronto. Mr. Kula holds a Bachelor of Arts in music and Judaic studies from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Music in theory and conducting with Distinction in Performance from New England Conservatory of Music. For more information, please visit aaronkula.com.
Raechel Alexander
Director of Communications & Media Relations
Raechel Alexander is a communications and public relations specialist with over 25 years experience in the nonprofit performing arts industry. Most recently, she served as the vice president for communications for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO). Prior to her important work with the CSO, Raechel held titled positions in communications and public relations at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and Sylvie Bigar: International Public Relations. Currently she is an independent communications consultant and is the founder and president of RA Complete Communications, based in Chicago, IL. Raechel works closely with artists and institutions to provide media training, career counseling, website development, strategic messaging/visioning, networking viability, social media building, crisis management, and media relations placement and support.