Established in 2014 by the Azrieli Foundation, the Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) offer opportunities for the discovery, creation, performance and celebration of excellence in music composition.
Two prizes recognize excellence in new Jewish music:
The Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music is awarded to a composer who has written the best new major work of Jewish music. Eligible works may have been premiered within ten years of the award date, but must not have a significant performance history, and must not have been commercially recorded.
The Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music is awarded to encourage composers to creatively and critically engage with the question “What is Jewish music?”. This prize is given to the composer who proposes a response to this question in the shape of a musical work that displays the utmost creativity, artistry and musical excellence.
New!
Starting with the 2020 edition, AMP has added a third prize – the Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music. This prize is offered to a Canadian composer to create a new musical work that creatively and critically engages with the challenges of composing concert music in Canada today.
Scores, proposals and supporting documents for the prizes are accepted from nominators and individual composers of all faiths, ages, backgrounds and affiliations. The winning submissions for the first two prizes are selected by the AMP Jury for Jewish Music. The Canadian Commission is selected by the AMP Jury for Canadian Music. Both juries are comprised of a pool of leading experts assembled from the fields of music creation, culture, presentation and performance.
All three winning composers are expected to attend the rehearsals, performances and recording of their prize-winning works, and will be publicly honoured at the AMP Gala Concert, which will take place in Montreal every two years.
The AMP Community
The Azrieli Music Prizes have been offered biennially since 2014.
For its first two editions in 2016 and 2018, AMP focused on the discovery and creation of orchestral music that celebrated excellence in new Jewish music.
In an effort to open AMP to a larger circle of composers, the Azrieli Foundation has expanded its three music prizes to call for a variety of instrumentation categories. These include:
- 2020: Chamber Music – Ensembles of up to sixteen (16) instruments, including up to two (2) soloists.
- 2022: Choral Music – A cappella choir plus up to four additional instruments and/or vocal soloist(s)
- 2024: Orchestral Music – Symphony orchestra plus up to two (2) soloists
- 2026: Oratorio or Opera-in-Concert – Symphony orchestra, choir and up to four (4) vocal soloists in either an oratorio or one-act opera-in-concert format.
In establishing this cycle, the Azrieli Foundation hopes to give composers longer lead times by which to plan their AMP submissions while also allowing the prize program to enrich both the Canadian and Jewish music repertoires.