Postcard from Boca Raton: Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition

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Boca Raton translates as ‘mouse’s mouth’ in Spanish. But don’t let that put you off; everyone just calls it ‘Boca’, and there’s nothing ratty about this wealthy, well-heeled town on the Atlantic coast of Florida, with its long white ribbon of beach, high-end shopping avenues and affluent, mostly retired population. It may be the place for ‘snowbirds’ (the Americans who flock south in winter for warmer weather), but its proximity to Miami (40 miles south) and several universities also provide a contrasting, youthful outlook. It’s on the campus of one of these universities that the triennial Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition (EOIVC) is held, which in January 2023 enjoyed its third edition. Oliveira, the only US violinist to win the Tchaikovsky Competition gold medal, is artist-in-residence at Lynn University Conservatory of Music and resides a little further north up the Florida coast with his violist wife Sandra Robbins.