Eligibility & Guidelines
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for AMP-PF support, music ensembles must:
- be a registered not-for-profit corporation or charitable institution in their home country;
- retain professional artistic and administrative leadership and hire professional musicians;
- have completed at least two years of operations as a live concert music producer and presenting organization;
- demonstrate regular, ongoing live concert programming that is delivered to professional performance standards before a paying audience;
- Propose to program at least one AMP-winning work in either their 2021-2022 or 2022-2023 concert season; and
- exhibit good governance, appropriate administrative structure and sound financial management.
The Proposal Package
Please Note: The Azrieli Foundation will only accept one proposal per music ensemble per year. Multiple proposals from the same ensemble will not be accepted.
The completed proposal form, supporting documents and media must be submitted to the email address above on or before Friday May 1, 2020.
The AMP-PF Proposal Package must include:
- Information about the music ensemble that demonstrates it meets the Fund’s eligibility criteria, including:
- name, address, and corporate and/or charitable registration number;
- names and short biographies for artistic and administrative leadership;
- records of both the past concert season and the current season’s programming;
- financial statements for the most recently completed fiscal year; and
- a budget for the fiscal year that includes the proposal.
- Audiovisual recordings of the ensemble performing two contrasting and recent examples of contemporary musical works.
- Example may be sent as audio and/or video
- Accepted formats are MP3 or WAV for audio and MP4 or MOV for video.
- A proposal for the concert featuring the AMP-winning work(s), including:
- concert date and location (Please Note: this concert must fall in either the 2021-2022 or 2022-2023 season to be eligible for AMP-PF support);
- name of proposed soloists (if required);
- a list of other music works that will appear on the concert program;
- if part of a concert season, a brief explanation of how the proposed concert fits into the season; and
- a brief statement about how the concert will help advance the objectives of the Azrieli Music Prizes.
- A concert budget showing the amount requested of the AMP-PF (not to exceed $25,000 CAD) with a short explanation for how the funds will be used.
- Optional: Submissions may be accompanied by no more than two letters of reference. All letters should clearly indicate the applicant’s name as follows:
“(Ensemble’s Name) Letter of Reference, Azrieli Music Prizes Performance Fund”
Please use the AMP-PF Proposal Form to organize your work.
Eligible Works
Proposals may be submitted to feature one or more of the following AMP-winning works:
The Seven Heavenly Halls for tenor solo, mixed choir and orchestra by Brian Current (2016 Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music)
- Duration: ca. 27 min.
- Instrumentation: 2(pic.). 2(eh).2(bcl).2(cb)/2.2.2.0/3 perc./hp.pno/solo tenor/chorus (SATB, SSSAAATTTBBB and SSAATTBB)/str
- Publisher: Canadian Music Centre
- Soloists who have performed this work: Richard Troxell, Andrew Haji and Frédéric Antoun
Klezmer Clarinet Concerto for solo clarinet and orchestra by Wlad Marhulets
(2016 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music)
- Duration: ca. 17 min.
- Instrumentation: 2(pic).2.0.2/4.2.0.0/timp.2perc.dmkit/cel.pf/ebgtr/solo cl/str
- Publisher: G. Schirmer
- Soloists who have performed this work: David Krakauer and André Moisan
En el escuro es todo uno (In the Darkness, All is One) for solo cello, solo harp and orchestra by Kelly-Marie Murphy (2018 Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music)
- Duration: ca. 22 min.
- Instrumentation: 2.2.2.2/4.2.2.1/timp/2perc/solo vcl, solo hp/str
- Publisher: Canadian Music Centre
- Soloists who have performed this work: Rachel Mercer (cello), Erica Goodman (harp) and Couloir (Ariel Barnes, cello and Heidi Krutzen, harp)
Nigunim (Violin Concerto No. 2) for solo violin and orchestra by Avner Dorman
(2018 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music)
- Duration: ca. 20 min.
- Instrumentation: 2(pic).2.2.2/2.0.0.0/timp.2perc/solo vln/str
- Publisher: G. Schirmer
- Soloist who has performed this work: Lara St. John
(Please Note: The 2020 AMP-winning works will be premiered on October 22, 2020 in Montreal and will be made available for AMP-PF support with the 2021 Call for Proposals.)
The ensembles that receive AMP-PF support agree to:
- program AMP-winning work(s) in a manner that features it/them in the best way imaginable in accordance with world class professional standards;
- rehearse and perform the work(s) to world class professional standards;
- communicate to the public the Azrieli Foundation and the Azrieli Music Prizes names and logos in relation to the AMP-PF supported concert;
- include a special statement in the concert house programme recognizing the Azrieli Music Prizes Performance Fund;
- maintain open, timely and professional communication with the Azrieli Foundation concerning the execution of the supported rehearsals and the concert; and
- provide a final report to the Azrieli Foundation following completion of the Concert, including:
- a tax creditable receipt or a letter of recognition;
- concert documentation, including but not limited to the house programme, photos and media reviews; and
- a one-page reflective statement on how the concert helped meet AMP objectives.
Criteria
Some Considerations for a Successful Submission
In addition to the guidelines and requirements stated above, The Azrieli Music Prizes Advisory Council has provided the following notes to help applicants shape a more successful submission:
- Don’t worry about how ‘Jewish’ or ‘Canadian’ your programming is or is not. One of AMP’s objective is to generate productive intercultural understandings through a rich consideration of what Jewish and Canadian music is and can be.
- A successful proposal must be conceptually and musically balanced. Strong, wonderful musical examples accompanied by an insubstantial and/or ill-conceived concert proposal will not succeed within the competition. The inverse is also true: a strong concert proposal will not compensate for weak musical examples. The two must go hand-in-hand.
- It is preferred that AMP-winning works be programmed alongside other works from the 20th and 21st Century concert repertoire. That said, compelling proposals for programming alongside earlier works will be considered.
- Please note that the quality of submitted recordings and print materials greatly affects the ability to evaluate a proposal. Please ensure that submitted recordings are as clear and undistorted as possible and that printed materials are clean and legible. If the reproduction quality is so low that it’s difficult to ascertain the artistic product, then this will impact the Council’s evaluation.
- Please be certain that submitted written materials and musical examples demonstrate your ensemble’s ability to undertake the rehearsals and concert for one, or more, of the AMP-winning works to world class industry standards. The Foundation seeks to support ensembles that will showcase these works at the same level of excellence we expect of our AMP Laureate composers.
Review Process and Criteria
Once received, proposals are registered and screened by the Foundation’s Manager of Music Initiatives for eligibility and completeness. The proposals that pass this screening are delivered to the AMP Advisory Council as qualified submissions.
The Council will evaluate qualified submissions for their fit and relevancy to the objectives of AMP and the purpose of the Performance Fund. The Council will review and grade the submissions using the following three main criteria: Artistic Merit, Thematic Fit and Capacity. These criteria are separately weighted based on their level of importance to arrive at a score out of 100 for each evaluated submission.
Artistic Merit (50 points)
This is the most important criteria the Council applies in evaluating each submission. It is directly tied to the ensemble’s proven ability to program and perform new concert music at the highest artistic standards.
The Council will determine:
- the level of creativity and distinctiveness displayed in the ensemble’s programming;
- the ensemble’s capacity to generate high-quality professional performances; and
- the ability of the submitted musical examples to sustain a listener’s attention over their entire length.
Thematic Fit (30 points)
The Council will evaluate whether the qualified submission:
- proposes a relevant thematic fit to the objectives of the Azrieli Music Prizes;
- presents one or more of the AMP-winning works in the best way imaginable, in accordance with world class professional standards;
- offers an authentic expression of the ensemble’s current and past programming; and
- produces productive intercultural understandings through a rich consideration of what Jewish and Canadian music is and can be.
Capacity (20 points)
The Council will evaluate the qualified submissions for the ensembles’ ability to execute their concert projects as proposed.
Can the proposal be realistically and successfully achieved? Does the ensemble demonstrate enough previous experience to assure the Council that it will deliver on its proposal on time and on budget? Has the ensemble’s leadership allocated adequate resources to meet the expected standard of achievement?
Those proposals for which the Council can answer these questions in the affirmative will advance in the competition.
Notification
The AMP Advisory Council anticipates making decisions concerning which ensembles/proposals will receive AMP-PF support approximately two months after the deadlines (i.e. by mid-June 2020). Successful applicants will be notified by the Manager of Music Initiatives via email with an AMP-PF funding agreement to follow in writing 3-4 weeks after. All other applicants will receive a notification letter by post along the same timeline.
The decisions of the AMP Advisory Council regarding the Performance Fund are final and non-negotiable. There is no appeal process.
Feedback
The Council does welcome feedback on how to improve the AMP-PF application, evaluation, notification and implementation process. Feedback may be sent by email to music@azrielfoundation.org with the subject line “AMP-PF Feedback” or by post to:
Attn: Azrieli Music Prizes Performance Fund
22 St. Clair Avenue East, Suite 202
Toronto, ON M4T 2S3
CANADA
For more information about the Azrieli Music Prizes please contact:
Phone: 1-(416)-322-5928 ext. 326
Azrieli Music Prizes
22 St. Clair Ave. East, Suite 202
Toronto, ON M4T 2S3