2022 Azrieli Music Prizes Gala Concert
Featuring World Premieres by 2022 AMP Laureates
Iman Habibi
Iman Habibi, D.M.A. (Michigan), is an Iranian-Canadian composer and pianist, and a founding member of the piano duo ensemble, Piano Pinnacle. Hailed as “a giant in talent” (the Penticton Herald), “whose technical mastery is matched by his musical and cultural literacy” (Hudson-Housatonic Arts), Dr. Habibi has been commissioned by The Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, The Orchestra of St. Luke’s and The Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, and has been programmed by The Carnegie Hall, The Tanglewood Music Festival, and The Canadian Opera Company, among others.
His awards include multiple wins at the SOCAN Foundation’s Awards, The International Composers’ Award at the Esoterics’ POLYPHONOS (2012), The Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Awards for Emerging Artist in Music (2011), Brehm Prize in Choral Music (2016), as well as numerous grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, BC and Ontario Arts Councils.
Visit: imanhabibi.com
Aharon Harlap
Aharon Harlap, one of Israel’s most prominent composers and conductors was born in Canada, where he began his musical career as a pianist. He completed his studies in music and mathematics at the University of Manitoba, Canada in 1963 , and in 1964 immigrated to Israel. He furthered his studies in composition and conducting at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, London, England, and at the Vienna Academy of Music, Austria with Maestro Hans Swarovsky.
His orchestral compositions have been performed by all of the major orchestras in Israel including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Beer Sheva Sinfonette , the Tel Aviv soloists, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Camerata-Jerusalem, the Haifa Symphony Orchestra and the Rishon le Tzion Symphony Orchestra. Aside from Israel, his chamber and orchestral compositions have been performed throughout the world, namely in Canada, the USA , Europe , and recently in St. Petersburg, Russia and Bangkok, Thailand .
He is the recipient of many prizes including the prestigious ACUM (Authors and Composers in Israel) award for “Life Achievement” in 2008 for his contribution to music in Israel as a composer, conductor and teacher . He was also awarded the “Prime Minister’s Composition Prize” “in 1999 and again in 2014. This year (2020) Harlap was awarded the prize for Life Achievement in the field of Jewish Music
Harlap has represented Israel as an international choral judge at the ” World Choir Games ” (Interkultur) held in Korea, the USA, Austria, Germany, China and recently in Sochi, Russia and South Africa.
In May, 2016 Harlap’s new orchestral work “Memoirs” was performed by the Dohnanyi-Budafok Symphony orchestra, Budapest
under the direction of guest conductor Roberto Paternostro.
In July 2017, Harlap’s clarinet concerto was performed in Bangkok by the Thailand Philharmonic orchestra under the direction of chief conductor Alfonso Scarano, with the clarinet soloist Calogero Palermo, principal clarinetist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Holland.
From 1976- 2018 , Harlap was an Associate Professor in choral and orchestral conducting at the Jerusalem Academy of Music .Since 1997 , he is the Music Director of the Kefar Sava Chamber Choir in Israel.
Visit: aharonharlap.com
Rita Ueda
Rita Ueda is a Canadian composer of orchestral, operatic, and choral works that reflect today’s ever-shifting interactions between cultures in flux. Her recent premieres include collaborations with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Budapest MAV Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Prague Modern, Turning Point Ensemble (Vancouver), Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra (Taipei), and the SYC Ensemble Singers (Singapore). Her works have been presented at the Amsterdam Uitmarkt Festival, West Coast New Music Festival (Fukuoka), Prague Conempuls Festival, and the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra Global Soundscapes Festival.
Applauded as a composer whose ‘poetic is often very delicate and introspective…’ (Guido Barbieri, Warner Classics), Ms. Ueda is the winner of international prizes including the 2014 Krzysztof Penderecki International ‘Arboretum’ Composers’ Competition, 2011 Estoterics ‘Polyphonos’ Choral Composition Competition, and the 2013 Boston Choral Ensemble Competition. She is also the recipient of numerous grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, and the SOCAN Foundation.
Ms. Ueda holds degrees at Simon Fraser University (BFA) and California Institute of the Arts (MFA) where she studied with Rudolf Komorous, Rodney Sharmon, Wadada Leo Smith, and David Rosenboom. She is currently pursuing a PhD in composition at Durham University (UK) under the direction of Richard Rijnvos and James Weeks.
Her latest recording, I Solisti Della Scalla – Octets is available through Warner Classics.
Join the Azrieli Music Prizes on a journey through eras, environments and cultures, exploring enduring yet contemporary concerns via the musical imagination of today’s best composers.
Iman Habibi’s Shāhīn-nāmeh explores 14th Century Judeo-Persian poetry, sung in a traditional Persian style, to expose the close affinities between Persians and Jews dating back centuries.
Rita Ueda’s double concerto embraces birdsong and landscape to reflect on Canada’s shifting multiculturalism.
What does it mean to migrate and settle on land already rich in history?
Canadian-Israeli composer Aharon Harlap gives us five psalms for soprano and orchestra that follow an emotional journey from despair to hope.
This is a song cycle with an uplifting message for our times.
Gala Programme
Orchestre Métropolitain
Alexandre Bloch, conductor
Sharon Azrieli, soprano
Sepideh Raissadat, voice and setar
Naomi Sato, shō
Zhongxi Wu, suona/sheng
Maison symphonique de Montréal
Iman Habibi
Shāhīn-nāmeh, for voice and orchestra (premiere)
Texts by Shahin Shirazi
Rita Ueda
Birds Calling… from the Canada in You, for shō, suona/sheng and orchestra (premiere)
Aharon Harlap
Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord, for soprano and orchestra
Check back for more details about how to watch the Gala Livestream
In the news
Whispers of an Italian-Jewish Past Fill a Composer’s Music
Yotam Haber’s “Estro Poetico-Armonico III” combines live singing with archival recordings of cantors.
Since early in his career, Yotam Haber has grappled with what it means to be a contemporary Jewish composer. The tentative answers offered by his music — full of allusions, distortion and whispers of the past — suggest that the grappling itself is a vital part of that identity.
Keiko Devaux: Being Canadian by Being Herself
Keiko Devaux was already a composer at age five. Unsatisfied with the methodical character of her piano lessons, she found freedom by playing the top line of the score as written and inventing the rest. Thirty-three years later, Devaux has been named the inaugural winner of the $50,000 Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music.
Azrieli Music Prizes: Meet The Three Winning Composers
The Gala Concert of the biennial Azrieli Music Prizes will take place on October 22, featuring the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, which will be performing the world premiere of the three prize-winning works in Montreal at the salle Claude-Champagne.
Nouvel Ensemble Moderne: Back on stage for the Azrieli Prize Gala
The Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM) and its artistic director Lorraine Vaillancourt will open its new season on Oct. 22 with a gala concert presented by the Azrieli Foundation. On tap that evening are three works by the latest recipients of the biennial Azrieli Music Prizes.
Azrieli Music Prizes Concert to be Live Streamed for Free
The biennial Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) concert – the world premiere of the most recent winning compositions of orchestral Jewish music and Canadian art music – goes virtual this year due to the pandemic.
For more information about the Azrieli Music Prizes please contact:
Phone: 1-(416)-322-5928 ext. 326
Azrieli Music Prizes
2 St. Clair Ave. West, Suite 900
Toronto, ON M4V 1L5
