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